Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. He did talk about substantial support but he said it himself, that was pandemic support. It was for Covid only. It did not deal with the systematic inequity in the fair deal system. The Minister talked about a 6% or 7% increase, yet the difference in support between the two types is of the order of 60%. It is not enough. I could not name a nursing home in my own constituency but I can name St. Brendan's nursing home in Mulranny. Its situation is dire and it is now in the public domain. I spoke to my colleague, Dr. Jerry Cowley, who along with people from the local community set up St. Brendan's 25 years ago as a not-for-profit nursing home. They are struggling. They have spent hundreds of thousands bringing the nursing home up to the proper fire regulations and room size regulations, and rightly so. They receive €600 less per resident than the HSE facility nine miles down the road. They provide the same level of care.

When they source staff from abroad, two years later the HSE takes on their staff because it offers them better pay and conditions. They are in impossible situations. I want to know what the Government is going to do for nursing homes like the one in Mulranny. I accept that four new centres have opened, but they will not open in Mulranny and they will not open in smaller regional and rural areas. That is the crucial issue.

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