Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim míle buíochas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil freisin leis an nGrúpa Réigiúnach agus le Cáit Nic Amhlaoibh as an rún seo a atheagrú inniu. I want to briefly discuss a related issue, namely, the nursing homes cases of which the Minister of State will be very aware. I welcome to the Public Gallery some of the families who have travelled from Cork today to protest the inaction by the Government in relation the cost of nursing home care in the Cork area and the massive danger that their loved ones will be evicted from their homes. This is a shocking emergency within the nursing home care sector.

The sector has experienced a 36% increase in costs since 2013. One third of nursing homes are losing money at the moment and approximately 900 nursing home beds have been lost in the system in the last three years. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, has stated that we will need 40,000 nursing home beds by 2030, which is double what we have now. It is incredible that we are in reverse in terms of capacity when we need to be putting more capacity in at a serious rate.

A report published in recent weeks by Nursing Homes Ireland, NHI, found that 33% of nursing homes that were surveyed in 2022 had an operating loss, up from 19% in 2021. On average, HSE homes are paid €730 more per resident per week than private nursing homes. We all remember how appallingly people in nursing homes were treated during the Covid crisis and it is astounding that we have a situation where the State is again letting down people in nursing homes. All private nursing homes, including Beaumont Residential Care in Cork, need €183 per resident per week to match the increase that public nursing homes received just to remain viable. Why are nursing homes in Cork getting €200 less per resident than nursing homes in Dublin under the fair deal scheme? That seems absolutely ludicrous given that the cost base is the same.

Aperee, which is currently operating in receivership, supplies 200 nursing home beds in Cork while Care Choice provides over 300 beds in Cork, including 56 beds at Beaumont Residential Care which operate under the fair deal scheme. Cork could be an absolute disaster zone in the next few months in terms of nursing home beds if Aperee closes its 200 beds and Care Choice shuts down its 500 beds, we would have a total of 700 beds at risk. Where are the residents going to go? This is a really important question. How are families going to be able to afford the alternatives for their loved ones? I heard the Minister say on radio that the Government will put in place State nursing home spaces but that will cost far more than the cost of the care that these nursing homes are already providing which does not make sense.

It has also been reported that eight nursing homes in Cork have a full-time fire warden now which is not normal within the nursing home sector. Two of these homes are so unsafe that they are no longer allowed to admit residents. There is no registered provider representative for any of the Aperee nursing homes at the moment. These are the people who built this country, the people who through their blood, sweat and tears raised a generation, paid their taxes and invested their lives in this country and here we are, so soon after the Covid crisis, and this is how we are treating them. It is absolutely disgraceful.

I do not think the Minister of State understands how serious the situation is currently. I received an email recently, as I am sure did the Minister of State, the subject line of which reads: "My 90 year old mother will be made homeless in three weeks". The Government's inaction is leading to the eviction of people in the last years of their lives. We had massive debates in here about the eviction ban in recent times and here we are potentially seeing people in their 90s being evicted from the homes in which they live. This is potentially a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. The Government needs to immediately and urgently engage with the group protesting outside the Dáil today, many of whom are older people who got up early this morning to travel to be here. The Government also needs to provide €183 per resident per week to avert this disaster.

A total of 31 nursing homes have closed in the last 28 months with a loss of 980 beds. Approximately 80% of those beds were in privately owned care homes. The fair deal rate that the six Care Choice homes in Cork, including Beaumont Residential Care, require to be sustainable is €1,270 per resident per week but they are currently receiving €1,085 from the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF. Just to add to the confusion, the NTPF is unwilling to agree that sustainable rate with those homes, while at the same time it is paying a rate of €1,365 for another private nursing home in Cork, St. Luke's Home. The NTPF is talking about budgetary constraints but we are hearing from the Government that there is plenty of money available, to the tune of billions of euro.

I have raised this issue before. I have raised the issue of people with dementia being thrown out of nursing homes, people who are 99 years old being put out of nursing homes, all for a small amount of funding. I urge the Ministers of State to engage with the families who are under such pressure.

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