Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this and I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, for joining us. It was great to see her this morning at the launch of the Samaritans report. I acknowledge the tremendous work the Samaritans do throughout the country. Both the Minister of State and Charlie Bird were inspirational. I know it is an area the Minister of State is passionate about and cares about. Within a few hours, we are discussing two elements of her area in regard to mental health and older people.

We are all extremely conscious of the excellent work that is going on in nursing homes, where people are looking after vulnerable people. We are relying on an element of trust because when people go into a nursing home, they are vulnerable and rely on others to give the appropriate care and support to them. We are conscious of the financial challenges that are faced by the nursing home sector in terms of the cost of living and the inflationary cost increases. It is important there is an appropriate response. Obviously, it is a priority for all of us that nursing homes that provide care to residents under the fair deal are helped to manage the temporary energy inflation costs and that the residents’ lived experience and comfort are not affected. For these reasons, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, announced a new scheme last week, with €10 million to support the private and voluntary nursing homes with the costs of energy inflation. That will certainly do a huge amount to alleviate the problems that are there.

It is worth repeating that every nursing home can apply for up to €31,500 in vouched energy increases. The fact that nursing homes can claim for heating and electricity increases of up to €7,000 per month is important, with 75% of year-on-year cost increases to be reimbursed up to a maximum amount. That can be backdated to 1 July 2022, which is very fair.

I have heard comment and received emails in regard to the add-on charges or discretionary charges in nursing homes. It is important to clarify that the nursing homes support scheme covers core living expenses. Obviously, residents need to have an element of choice in how they spend their own money on extras, such as social programmes and getting a daily newspaper or a hairdressing service. That is very important for quality of life. It is important that there are systems whereby the nursing home can provide that service but that is obviously an add-on cost, an additional charge, and there needs to be complete transparency around that. At the moment, there seems to be a lack of transparency around these charges and also, unfortunately, we hear anecdotally that clients are being charged for services they do not avail of. I use the word “anecdotally” because it is something we hear about, and we also sometimes hear about a flat charge being levied due to the increased costs associated with Covid. It is important that we bring that sense of reality into the debate we are having. I note it is important that there are extra services.

I had reason to visit a nursing home in Listowel last week. I was visiting a friend of mine, a fabulous man from Athlone who was living in Dublin but at the age of 58 he has had to move to a nursing home, which is very sad. He is in Listowel because he has a great community supporting him there. He had lived in Newbridge at one stage of his working life, and that is how I got to know him. It is an old nursing home but the staff are fantastic – they are absolutely amazing. I know Paul has brought great life to the home. I had a great conversation with him. I have to applaud him as he had just graduated with a master's degree in climate change the day before. It was incredible.

People sometimes go into a nursing home because they are incapacitated in some way but they still have so much life to live, so much to offer and so much capacity. We have to ensure that where they have that capacity, our society and community, including the work the Minister of State does, enable that living and support the people who are there, in this instance, to support Paul in what he wants to do with his life and to ensure he has that quality of life to enable him.

I wish the Minister of State continued good work in her advocacy and her support.