Ivor Callely (Fianna Fail)

I can certainly tell Senator Twomey that I am familiar with a number of these institutions. I have visited them and I assure the Senator that a number would not have met the inspection regime that was in place. Perhaps the Minister of State would like to answer that point, although it may be better not to do so on the floor of the House. I may be incorrect in what I am saying but I have my own view in that regard.

We have done much good work concerning nursing homes. The current provision of public beds shows we have come a long way in the past ten glorious years this country enjoyed. We invested heavily in public beds as well as additional services. Rather than just providing a bed, as happened heretofore, an array of secondary services, including physiotherapy, are being put in place both by private and public operators. That is very welcome. We have started to work on a level playing pitch but this matter is uneven. It is probably one of the last few items that will leave an imbalance. We must do something in this respect, but I do not know if it is good enough to tale a Minister's comment as an indication that there will have to be a fair operation of what is proposed in the Bill regarding the NTPF. We cannot allow the Bill to be enacted as its provisions could currently be read by NTPF officials, seeking negotiations with a private operator and holding up progress on the supply of beds until certain accounting figures are produced. I feel we are somewhat off course on this matter, so we will have to ensure a level playing pitch, as we have done over the years on other matters. This is one thing we need to correct, so I appeal to the Minister of State to do so.