Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of nursing homes and call for a debate on the topic of how we organise our elder care. Members will have seen the very disturbing story last week about a nursing home in Kerry where the HSE had to intervene. Twenty three out of 24 patients in the nursing home had Covid and, regrettably, there were six deaths. This latest tragedy, which was described as a situation of chaos, comes on the back of an appalling rate of deaths earlier this year in our nursing homes. In fact, we had the worst figures anywhere in Europe. It prompts a national conversation. I do not recall anyone ever saying to the Irish public that we will deal with elder care via a private for-profit model. If anyone in this House proposed dealing with healthcare on a private for-profit basis, they would rightly be condemned from all sides and yet the model of elder care we have is a private for-profit model. It is a model based on low wages, on exploitation. One contract I have seen specifies the company requires the worker to work a variety of shifts, including days, nights, evenings and weekends and for this, an employee would get a premium of 3.5% on an average rate of pay of €11, which is just 39 cent an hour on top of his or her pay rate to come in at any hour of the day or night. It is absolute disgrace. I also point out the fact that trade unions are not welcome in a nursing home sector. That is why one will never hear from a trade union spokesperson for nursing homes; one will hear from owners and managers. It is very regrettable that for the past two decades, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael spent millions subsidising private so-called entrepreneurs to set up nursing homes on a model of care which is completely inadequate. Surely to God we should all recognise that elder care should not be an issue of profit. It should be an issue, first and foremost, of care. I call for a debate on that issue.