Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also extend a welcome to my neighbour, who we call Eddie Fitz in my part of the country, and to Cormac Devlin, who has talked to me about this issue on a number of occasions. He is very active in the area and is a great representative for the community. I am deputising for Senator Swanick, who is attending a meeting elsewhere. The Senator was in contact with the Minister of State's office in that regard.

St. Joseph's in Shankill reports that it will be forced to cease its day care service from January and gradually wind down the entire facility unless more public funding is provided this year. St. Joseph's is currently operating at a major loss and the funding gap is getting wider each year. The home gets funds from the fair deal scheme but not enough to cover its bills. The money provided by Government has not increased since 2006 and costs have risen rapidly since then. It has been trying to plug the gap with help from St. John of God's, as the Minister of State has mentioned, but in 2019 alone the shortfall will reach €1 million, which is quite a lot. The Government is refusing to take responsibility for the problem and is trying to pass the buck while citing a report on the fair deal scheme which will apparently be used to decide whether funding rates are appropriate. That report has been delayed by two years. In the meantime, the threat of closure hangs over St. Joseph's. The care, compassion and clinical expertise that patients are given in St. Joseph's cannot be understated. Closing it would be disastrous for the vulnerable residents but would also have a terrible knock-on effect for families who will have to deal with the stress and worry of finding somewhere new for their loved relatives.

The St. John of God group has been lobbying the Department of Health and the NTPF in recent months for a significant increase in reimbursement payments for inpatient and day care. St. Joseph's has covered the €7 million financial shortfall from its own resources since 2012 but another €1.2 million is needed next year. Some 120 patients attend St. Joseph's day care services and 60 live there full-time. The CEO of St. Joseph's has requested a weekly payment of €1,785 per resident. Most residential places at St. Joseph's are funded through the fair deal scheme but the rate is insufficient as it does not take account of the dementia-specific and palliative care needs of these residents who have a terminal diagnosis. Numerous HSE nursing homes are getting paid more than the rate St Joseph's is asking for despite not specialising in the same expensive treatment. Dementia care is an end-of-life palliative process and St. Joseph's simply cannot continue to offer this specialist long-term care based on the current funding model applied by the NTPF and the HSE. It is paid at considerably lower rates than equivalent public facilities despite the additional costs associated with meeting the high-dependency needs of the people cared for there.

The truth is that none of this needs to happen. All of this could have been avoided had the Minister of State listened to the warnings regarding the financial situation at St. Joseph's when Deputy Donnelly first raised them in the Dáil in June. Now, the State's largest nursing home specifically for dementia patients faces closure over a funding crisis. The Government is abandoning some of the most vulnerable people in society.

I was happy to read that statement on behalf of Senator Swanick. I listened to what the Minister of State had to say, which was important, and I appreciate that he is here today to discuss the matter. He provided a lot of detail on many issues. He told us about the €1 million in grant funding, the 300 day care centres and the services provided at St. Joseph's. He told us everything but he did not mention anything specific about keeping the residents in the centre and the deal he is trying to strike with the St. John of God's group, if he is, if fact, trying to strike one. He said that the HSE has been talking to the board and, since St. John of God's has been covering the overrun, it will be the board that decides whether the service will continue. I am a little bit disappointed that he could not tell us that we were 50% of the way to a solution or that we have been able to deal with some of the shortfall although without agreement on the overall figure. I am sure anything that would help to keep these people where they are would be a better response than closing the centre. The Minister of State knows that, if it does close, significant amounts of money will have to be spent to settle these people elsewhere.

I appreciate the Minister of State being here and the compassion he has shown in respect of this issue but will he go off script and enlighten us a little bit more about some of the detailed discussion that has taken place? I would appreciate it if he did that for the sake of the people involved.