Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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361. To ask the Minister for Health if he will ensure that emergency funding is secured for accommodation upgrades for public nursing homes, whose future has been cast in doubt due to their failure to meet Health Information and Quality Authority’s new accommodation standards; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that up to 21 of these facilities, including two in County Tipperary, may not be re-registered by HIQA this year due to their failure to meet this standard; the steps being taken to prevent any such closures; the cost to the State of carrying out these upgrades; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3516/15]

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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407. To ask the Minister for Health the way it is planned to meet the Health Information and Quality Authority requirements in respect of a nursing home (details supplied) in County Tipperary; if a fully costed and funded plan has been submitted to HIQA; if not when it will forward a plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3873/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 361 and 407 together.

There are currently 119 public residential units providing a mixture of long-stay and short-stay residential care. All of these, including St Conlon’s Nursing Unit, Nenagh and Dean Maxwell Community Nursing Unit, Roscrea are registered with HIQA. Notwithstanding the problems that some facilities face with structures and facilities, the vast majority of their residents receive excellent levels of care. Without these public facilities many older people would simply have nowhere to go, other than our acute hospitals which are already under pressure. It is therefore very important that the services provided by public facilities be maintained.

Demand for capital investment for the Community Nursing Unit programme far exceeds the funding available, and investment must therefore be allocated as effectively as possible based on the HSE's assessment of priorities.

HIQA has indicated that a number of units do not fully meet the standards one would expect to find in a modern nursing home. This is not surprising given the age and structure of many of our public nursing homes. However, there is adequate flexibility available within the terms of existing legislative provisions, and through ongoing discussions between the HSE and HIQA, for solutions to be found. In this context the HSE has been working with HIQA over the past number of months to meet the re-registration requirements of these units, and my Department is closely monitoring the situation.