Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the visitors who are in the Public Gallery. I, too, want to read from correspondence I received recently from the son of Patrick Murphy, who is in his 99th year. Patrick worked for CIÉ for 40 years from 1949 to 1989. His job was as a ganger on the permanent railway between Cobh and Cork. He walked the line in both directions every two weeks with a heavy hammer and a large spanner to ensure that all the keys were in place and to tighten the bolts. His wife Mary died suddenly in 1979 but Patrick continued living on his own in the same house for almost 60 years before going to Beaumont Residential Care in October 2020 at the age of 96 as he could no longer live alone. It took him about six months to settle in but now he loves the room he is in and the caring staff who look after him every day. Having to leave Beaumont "would literally kill him". The writer finishes by saying that now, in the twilight of his life he may have to leave the place he loves because of "the failure of Government policy" in its duty of care to our most vulnerable people, our elderly. These are not my words but those of the son of Mr. Patrick Murphy.

I listened to the Minister's speech earlier. He finished by saying that this is not about pitting the private sector against the public sector, especially in an emergency and in the context of care for the elderly. The Minister spoke about an additional 185 beds and others spoke about 900 beds lost but these are not beds; these are actual human beings with families.

The Minister mentioned the NTPF but we have to change things. We are legislators and we can change things. This is all about doing the right thing. A company that is getting €657 less per week per resident cannot compete on the same level. There are lots of small things that we might be able to change too, like commercial rates in the private sector, to give them a break. People on all sides are giving the best level of care possible in this country, which is what they are supposed to do. The Minister is not opposing our motion but he must accept that there is a trend here. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is well aware of the situation with regard to services at Owenacurra. We are seeing the same trend in mental health and respite services. They are going as well and we are heading for another tsunami. If we do not address the matter now, we are all going to be in deep trouble.

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