Liam Twomey (Fine Gael)

It has been suggested that all units which are developed should be big. It might not be a bad thing if they are attached to nursing homes. The palliative care report that was published in 2004 stated that there was a dearth of palliative care beds in all regions. I am worried that 20-bed stand-alone palliative care units might not be feasible outside large urban areas, where there are enough people to provide a critical mass. The theory that underpins palliative care throughout the country is that patients should receive such care as near as possible to their original homes, where their families and friends may still live. It has now been proposed that small palliative care units should be attached to nursing homes. To what extent will the tax relief that applies to small units — I do not necessarily refer to a 20-bed unit, as an eight-bed unit might be developed — be different from the relief that applies to larger units? We should be careful to bear in mind that there is no single best way of developing palliative care units. Large units could be confined to large urban areas. Small units are probably more appropriate to places like County Wexford, which has just six palliative care beds at present.