Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to speak on the Government’s appalling attitude towards the elderly in this country. I am speaking against the backdrop of the suggested repurposing of the new community nursing home in Nenagh as a step-down facility to take the pressure off University Hospital Limerick, caused by Government failures. I am also speaking in the wake of the repurposing of St. Brigid’s Hospital in Carrick-on-Suir, only to be subsequently closed for good. There continues to be uncertainty about the future of the Dean Maxwell community nursing unit in Roscrea. I can only speak on the Government's record and what is happening in my county of Tipperary which is appalling. Considering this, I am really concerned that a similar situation will happen in Nenagh whereby it will never revert to its original purpose if the ham-fisted plan goes ahead.

I will be raising this during the Topical Issue debate. I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is actually appearing. We were told earlier that the Minister of State would not be here. The residents of St. Conlon’s, the workers, the unions and the community are opposed to the Government's plan. There are real concerns that if this happens, it will never revert to the purpose for which the people of Nenagh have been waiting for a decade - to provide 50 beds for the care of the elderly.

The impression that the HSE and the Department of Health are trying to give is that there has been adequate engagement with residents, workers and unions. Nothing could be further from the truth. Residents are outraged over claims that they were consulted. Unions are also unsatisfied with how the Government is presenting this.

This is another example of the elderly being expected to shoulder the burden of a health system that appears to put them last while it struggles with the consequences of the disastrous reconfiguration of services in the mid-west. Why are the elderly the ones who the Government and the HSE wish to deprive of 50 beds at a time when the older population is increasing and when the residents of St. Conlon’s who were due to be transferred to the new unit had looked forward to their new surroundings? I urge the Minister of State to rethink this. Does she think the current number of places in public nursing homes, which is 1,000 lower than in 2014, does not matter and that older people should be the first to be sacrificed to cover up the cracks in the health system?

Older people want and need affordable, fit-for-purpose residential nursing home care. Ireland has the fastest growing age demographic in Europe. As such, Sinn Féin wants investment in 1,200 public nursing home and community beds to speed up hospital discharges and provide more care in the community, not to remove beds as is proposed. There is inequality within the system which we believe can be reformed through a range of measures, including the reform of the fair deal scheme to support regionally balanced investment.

Finally, I want to address childcare. In Nenagh again, I have been informed of a service provider who claims that the subsidy given by the Government is putting their livelihood in jeopardy. They are struggling with costs, but they do not want to heap the burden on parents. If a shortsighted attitude towards the childcare sector is not immediately addressed, parents will be without a provider. Where will that leave people?

We need a holistic approach that works. That is why Sinn Féin would make childcare affordable for parents and beneficial for providers by increasing funding by €201.7 million to enable providers to reduce fees for parents, underpinned by legislation and controlled through contractual agreement with providers.

I ask those on the Government benches take heed of the messages we are giving them here. They should not hide behind statistics that avoid addressing the real issues on the ground.

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