Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)

I thank my colleagues, Deputies Wall and Sherlock, for tabling this important motion. The care system is increasingly in crisis. From cradle to grave, we have seen care farmed out to private investors who think of profits and not people. The current crisis is driven by two factors in particular. These are the natural ageing of the population and the State's hands-off approach to providing care. We have seen a shift towards privatisation in the commodification of care and the outsourcing of our own social responsibility. While the "RTÉ Investigates" programme was shocking, unfortunately many families who have placed loved ones in care knew this was inevitable. Many complaints have gone unanswered or uninvestigated. There are serious shortcomings in HIQA's inspection and enforcement regime. The high staff turnover rate creates a damaging cycle that compromises the quality of care that people receive and this alone demands urgent attention.

Care for older people must be reframed as an essential part of our social infrastructure, on a par with education, health and housing. Nursing homes should not be the default solution for ageing. Instead, they should be reserved for situations where end-of-life or intensive medical care is genuinely required. They are certainly not for people under the age of 65 due to a lack of appropriate alternatives. The priority should be on delivering care in the community, allowing older people to thrive and live with dignity and independence in their own homes for as long as possible.

Just yesterday, a journalist outside asked how much this was going to cost. That question is everything that has gone wrong with how we do care. We should be outraged that the first concern is the price tag and not the person who needs the care in later life. We cannot and should not put a monetary figure on dignity, well-being or the rights of older citizens. Caring for older people is not a cost to be calculated; it is a fundamental responsibility of any decent society. We owe them care not because it is profitable but because it is right.

We have seen a shift in the valuation of care economically and socially. Mainstream economic thinking often treats care as a cost rather than a vital investment in people and society. The commodification of care has prioritised cost efficiency over individualised high-quality care. This is also evident in the treatment of our care workers. Care provision is predominantly delivered by the private sector, even though it is largely funded through the public purse. This work remains low paid, insecure, under-regulated and undervalued. Many workers lack basic protections and benefits. If private nursing homes are to be funded by the public purse, they should not block trade unions organising to make sure they have decent and conditions. We need a new approach that resets care as a public good and not a private commodity. The future of care lies in public investment, community-based services and the priority of people over profit. It is time we moved away from a nursing home default model and towards a system that truly supports older people to live full and dignified lives.

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