Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is here. We have engaged on the floor of the House on public nursing home beds. She may recall I was delighted that she called for an audit of public nursing home beds last year. I am trying to get a copy of that audit. I think the Minister of State failed to get a copy of it. I have now failed to get a copy. What I have found out, and I thank the Minister of State for the answers, is that in the relevant CHO area there are 591 beds, 91 of which are closed. Taking both the city and county of Galway, there are 256 beds, of which 50 are closed. In a situation where we have waiting lists, I cannot get information. The Minister of State has rightly said that we need to plan for future. To change the relationship between public and private, we need that essential information.

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