Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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A year ago, a commitment was given by the former Minister, Stephen Donnelly, when he wrote to me to say that the new nursing home in Nenagh would be opened as a nursing home after completion of the 12-month contract signed with a private operator to take over the nursing home in order for it to be used as a step-down facility for UHL. I fought for this nursing home. The Minister of State knows it is badly needed in the mid-west as he is also from the mid-west. I fought for it for years because HIQA stated the old St. Conlon's home was not fit for purpose and I accepted that. We found a site and, as part of the Government I was in, we got funding of €25 million. It was built, fair play to the HSE and those who fought to get it.

Last April, the town of Nenagh and its surrounds were shocked when the HSE announced that, effectively, it would be taken over as a step-down facility and run by a private company. Nenagh had been screwed when a Fianna Fáil Government closed our emergency department and put our hospital down to a different level. The people felt they were being screwed again with regard to the nursing home and went out on the streets to protest it. As a TD and public representative for 20 years based in Nenagh I know of so many families who cannot find elderly care. They cannot find rehab or respite. Here was a 50-bed state-of-the-art nursing home, the best built in Ireland, and it was being taken over. It was a disgrace.

To compound this disgrace it was privatised. Residents in St. Conlon's have never got to transfer to the facility and many of them have passed away since. The staff never got to transfer. Recruitment never happened for local staff. I have had to fight to get people into nursing homes throughout the mid-west and further afield, in Galway, Laois and everywhere, you name it. We have had to fight to get people even though we have a 50-bed state-of-the-art unit, which is the best in Ireland, sitting right beside the hospital and our new primary care centre in the middle of the town. It is not acceptable.

What the former Minister said, and what the regional executive officer, REO, of the HSE said, was that it would be used as a step-down facility for one year to get us over the winter. The winter is gone and we are now into spring. We were told it would be handed back as a residential facility by this summer. Then it was linked to the 96-bed block in Limerick. This is the famous block for which the Minister of State and I both fought for many years, and which is being built at rapid speed to be fair.

On Tipp FM a week or so ago, Dr. Hennessy, the new clinical lead in UHL, was asked whether it would honour opening the nursing home in the summer of this year. He said he had been assured by the REO before he went on the show that it would be open this year. That was all fine until I received a reply to a parliamentary question asking the exact same thing. In his correspondence to me, Ian Carter, CEO of mid-west acute and older people services, referred to my correspondence dated 21 February 2025 and told me no date for the initiative has been agreed at this time. This contradicts what the clinical lead said a week before.

Will the Minister of State answer to the people of Nenagh and its surrounds, and all the residents, their families and all the workers, on whether our nursing home will be open this summer as committed to by the HSE, the previous Government and this Government? Are we in a situation whereby it will be reneged on and we will not be in a position to trust the HSE or this Government on elderly care in Nenagh?

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Kelly for raising this important matter. By way of overview, long-term residential care is a crucial part of the overall continuum of care throughout the country. Our HSE community nursing units and community hospitals play a vital role in the provision of long-term care and other services. I am also very conscious of the importance of strengthening the capacity and resilience of our health system through the delivery of health and social care infrastructure. This Government is committed to continued investment in healthcare infrastructure which supports the highest quality care for our older population.

On the specific point raised by Deputy Kelly, this investment includes the community nursing unit capital programme, which was launched in 2016 to ensure that up to 90 of our public community nursing units and community hospitals would be refurbished or replaced to ensure the best quality for our older people. As part of this capital programme, older person services in the north Tipperary area are being enhanced by the opening of a new state-of-the-art 50-bed community nursing unit in Nenagh, replacing the St. Conlon’s community nursing unit, to which Deputy Kelly referred. A significant investment of €22 million was allocated to this project. The new Nenagh community nursing unit will have a complement of 50 beds, as Deputy Kelly has stated, providing long-stay care, respite care and palliative care services. The unit will provide a high-quality living environment, which will be in line with all regulatory requirements.

As Deputy Kelly is aware, in order to alleviate the significant pressures at UHL, a decision was made to utilise the new Nenagh community nursing unit building, on an interim basis, as a step-down sub-acute and rehabilitation facility for UHL. As Deputy Kelly has said, it is run by a private provider with expertise in such services. The interim use of the unit in Nenagh has provided highly valuable support to the region pending the completion of the first of two 96-bed blocks for UHL, scheduled to be completed in mid-2025. It has always been the intention that this temporary arrangement would be reviewed within one year and that the unit in Nenagh would open for long-term residential care services 12 months after the contract commenced with the private provider. This is still the case. I have followed up on this and it is still the case.

I wish to inform Deputy Kelly that HSE mid-west is working towards a HSE-led model of service delivery at Nenagh community nursing unit.

This will include long-term residential care services, commencing in quarter three this year, for the current St. Conlon's residents. I also assure the Deputy that I am committed to working alongside the HSE to address all concerns in respect of residential care for older people in Nenagh and north Tipperary, now and into the future.

I reiterate the particular point the Deputy raised, which is that the HSE is working towards moving the residents from St. Conlon's to the new community nursing facility in Nenagh within 12 months of the contract being signed with the private provider. That is still the case. Obviously, it arose because of the huge pressures in UHL and I appreciate what this means for the residents of St. Conlon's and their families. I will be working to ensure the residents of St. Conlon's are transferred to the new state-of-the-art facility in Nenagh within 12 months of the contact being signed with the private provider to provide the services for the alleviation of pressures on UHL with that 50-bed unit in the community nursing facility in Nenagh.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I accept the Minister of State's honesty and directness in this and I appreciate his response. I have to ask, though, why did the HSE send me this response to a parliamentary question within the past few days saying it did not have a date and did not know? If the Minister of State can confirm to the House that it is happening after 12 months, which is this summer, what is going on? Why are parliamentary questions not answered honestly? The Minister of State has stated on the record of the Dáil - and I accept it - that it will be within 12 months, which is this summer.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The intention is this summer and that continues to be the case.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I take his word that will happen. I must point out to the Minister of State that the company, Bartra, is advertising 12-month contracts for clinical nurses in Nenagh. If it is advertising for clinical nurses in Nenagh for 12 months, it must expect it is going to stay there a bit longer. By the way, at the end of this I want to see the total amount Bartra was paid for doing this because I expect it will be colossal. Why is it advertising for multiple posts in Nenagh on 12-month contracts if, as the Minister of State says, this will be handed back to the people of Nenagh and surrounds this summer?

I have huge affection for the people involved here. St. Conlon's, the saving of St. Conlon's and the creation of this new CNU are central to everything I believe in politically and everything for which I have fought for years. I fought for this for years. The people of Nenagh have huge affection for this. People who were residents and who have passed away had fought for this unit and wanted to move across to it. Their families have been left without ever getting their loved ones across to this unit.

There is an inherent contradiction here. I take the Minister of State's word. He is an honourable Member and an honourable Minister of State. I take his word that this is happening this summer and what the HSE have responded to in my parliamentary question will not happen but that it will do what he says and that moreover, the issue of Bartra looking for people for 12 months also will not affect the movement of the residents by this summer and all the staff will be in place.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Kelly for raising that matter. He might provide me with the correspondence he has received.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I will indeed, that is no problem.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I will repeat particular clarifications on a number of points. First, the decision to utilise the Nenagh community nursing home building on an interim basis as a step-down sub-acute and rehabilitative facility was taken to alleviate the significant pressures at UHL. It is about the pressures and that is a fact. I also reiterate the HSE is working towards a HSE-led model of delivery at Nenagh community nursing unit with long-term residential care services, commencing in quarter 3 this year, for the current St. Conlon's residents. The cohort that I want to have significantly transferred, obviously, is that cohort of people who currently are residents in St. Conlon's and they will move to the new facility in quarter 3 of this year.

The current community nursing unit in St. Conlon's, Nenagh, continues to provide excellent care to its residents during the interim period. The new Nenagh community nursing unit will ultimately replace St. Conlon's community nursing unit. I also reiterate that older person services in the north Tipperary area ultimately will be enhanced by the opening of a new state-of-the-art 50 bed community nursing unit in Nenagh, following a significant intervention to help alleviate significant pressure on University Hospital Limerick.

They are the facts as I understand them as of today. Ultimately, my concern, as a Minister of State, is to ensure those residents in St. Conlon's move across and assure their families that they will move across to the new facility in quarter 3 of this year.