John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I will give him a minute or two. I am glad that the Minister of State, Deputy Hoctor, is in the House as the issue concerns care of the elderly and she is the Minister of State responsible. There has been a very serious and disturbing development in Carlow. Before Christmas Senator Norris raised the issue of speculation about the closure of Bethany House welfare home which is located in the middle of Carlow town on Barrack Street, the main street through the town. At the same time I received correspondence from a number of colleagues in County Carlow, including councillors Michael Abbey and Tom Kinsella, who raised with me the view circulating locally that the Health Service Executive was about to close this welfare home. Through the general channels provided by the HSE I sought reassurance as to what was to happen and Senator Norris raised the issue in the House. I was reassured through my contacts in the HSE that no decision had been made and Senator Norris was reassured in the House by the Minister of State, Deputy Hoctor, that no decision had been made at that time. That was in the middle of December. Lo and behold, on 15 January it was announced that Bethany House welfare home would close within the next few weeks.

This issue goes right to the heart of what our democracy is about. I never thought I would say it as a member of Fine Gael, but we need a revolution in how we deliver health services, particularly care of the elderly.

A level of hypocrisy has surrounded this issue for which I do not blame the Minister of State. She has been used by the HSE in the response she delivered to the House before Christmas when she was clearly given incorrect information. In that response the HSE claimed it had not made the decision and yet it was widely known in Carlow at the time that the decision had been made. The unit had been inspected in the middle of last year with a view to providing improved facilities for physiotherapy. The HSE would not agree to provide those facilities, obviously with the view at that stage that this unit would be closed.

Bethany House is approximately 30 years old and is in the middle of Carlow town. It is a 30-bed unit, 25 of which are occupied at present. I attended a public meeting the other night to hear the reasoning behind the HSE's decision. It claimed it was closing the home owing to health and safety issues and because all but two of the residents are high dependency. Of the 25 people who live there and whose home it is, 19 get themselves up every morning for breakfast and five of them managed to attend the public meeting in a hotel in Carlow a number of days after the announcement of the closure. I am sure the Minister of State would agree this indicates they are far from being highly dependent.

In her remarks before Christmas, the Minister of State correctly acknowledged that the residential patient — the elderly person in this case — should be at the centre of any deliberations by the HSE. Bethany House is a fine facility and is home to these people. I am sure we have all experienced nursing homes, many of them privately owned, which in many cases are appalling places. I know Bethany House pretty well and it is a fantastic facility with a real sense of community between the staff — who are also appalled by this decision — and the residents who are deeply upset.

As Senator Norris said on the last occasion when he raised the issue, it is acknowledged that moving home is one of the most traumatic things people are asked to do. One of the residents is 98 years of age and he is being asked to move home. Bethany House is an extraordinary place where the patients look after the garden and run messages throughout the town for staff and other patients. Its location in the centre of Carlow allows them to do so.

The HSE proposes that the residents be moved to a number of facilities, principally the Sacred Heart Hospital in Carlow. There is already a significant waiting list of people wanting to get into that facility before the possibility of moving people from Bethany House arises. I ask the Minister of State to use whatever powers and offices she has to ensure this appalling and disgraceful decision is reversed.