Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Nolan for raising this important issue. I acknowledge there are nursing homes under financial pressure and some have closed. At the same time, others are making substantial profits and are opening. New nursing homes are opening as well as nursing homes closing. Last year we had a net gain in the total number of beds in nursing homes and so far this year we are seeing that happen again. More nursing home beds are opening than closing. I acknowledge that some are closing but others are opening.

With respect to using former nursing homes to accommodate refugees or people seeking international protection, IP, we are strictly saying that can only happen after two years. That is to ensure that no nursing home owner makes a decision to close a nursing home in order to turn it into refugee or IP accommodation. I know the Deputy did not say this, but some people are somehow making out that nursing home operators are shutting down with a view to making more money from providing accommodation to refugees or IP applicants. That is not true or fair. It is not a nice conspiracy theory to be putting around the place quite frankly as it is not the case. That is why we require them to be closed for two years, that the person who owns it must essentially have no income from it for two years or even has to dispose of it. No nursing home will close with a view to making a better return from refugee accommodation. We will not allow that to happen.

The overall budget for nursing homes through the fair deal scheme is €1.4 billion per year now, assisting more than 22,000 people. It increased by a further €100 million this year to €223 million. Budget 2023 saw more than €40 million in additional funding for the nursing home support scheme, or fair deal scheme, to provide an uplift in the maximum prices chargeable by private and voluntary nursing homes as negotiated. It is imperative that private and voluntary providers continue to engage in the process set out in the scheme. We are conscious of the financial challenges many of them face. We provided substantial additional funding to private and voluntary nursing homes over the course of the pandemic and in recent years. That includes €149 million through the temporary assistance payment scheme, TAPS; the provision of personal protective equipment, PPE, and oxygen costing the State €75 million; and the new temporary inflation payment, TIP, scheme which was established last year to help private and voluntary nursing homes with increases in energy costs. It covered 75% of the year-on-year increase in costs with a monthly cap of more than €5,000 per nursing home.

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