Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I thank the campaigners in the Gallery for the work they have done on this over the last number of months. Were it not for the work they have done, this issue would have gone below the radar and we would not have had the attention of the Government on it at all.

The Government is sleepwalking towards a nursing home capacity cliff edge at the moment and that is putting hundreds of older people in real danger of being evicted or ejected from the nursing homes they are in. The nursing home sector has experienced a 36% increase in cost of care since 2017 and one third of nursing homes are losing money. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, has stated we need 40,000 residential care places by 2030. This is double what we have at the moment. Some 31 nursing homes have closed and 950 beds have been lost in the last three years. Even though we must double the number of nursing home beds in the future, we are significantly in reverse in capacity terms at present. A report published in the last couple of weeks by NHI found 33% of homes surveyed were in operational loss. That must change. If it does not, capacity will go. It is as simple as that. We have a situation where on average €744 more is paid per HSE home, in terms of funding, compared with private nursing homes.

The Cork example is very serious. If Aperee closes its beds there will be 200 gone and if CareChoice shuts there will be 500 gone. That would mean 700 beds missing in the Cork area. Where will those residents go? It is the key and most important question we must answer here. How are those families going to afford it? The Minister and Minister of State do not realise how serious this is.

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