In Roscrea in County Tipperary one issue overshadows all others, namely, the future of the Dean Maxwell community nursing home in the town. This vital 27-bed elderly care residential home and day facility is dying a slow death. The centre is cherished by the people of Roscrea. The management and staff of the nursing home provide an excellent service for the people of the local community. The level and quality of care are acknowledged and appreciated by the people of Roscrea. The facility is an integral part of the fabric of the local community. It is almost 50 years old and no longer meets HIQA standards. It is therefore under threat of closure in 2021. Roscrea is a community-orientated town and its people have fought passionately to save the Dean Maxwell nursing home to allow elderly members of their community to continue living in the locality with which they are familiar.

The current capital spending plan, introduced in 2016 by the then Minister of State, Kathleen Lynch, did a serious injustice by the omission of the Dean Maxwell nursing home. That five-year service plan, endorsed by the HSE, effectively consigns the centre to lose its 25-bed long-stay unit. The nursing home and the people of Roscrea should not be deprived of its long-stay beds. Traditionally, north Tipperary has had a distribution of long-stay beds between Thurles, Nenagh and Roscrea. We had a new unit built in Thurles and a new unit for St. Conlon's in Nenagh is being progressed. The Dean Maxwell home should not be left behind. I request the Taoiseach to ensure the current flawed HSE service plan is reviewed, with the purpose of designing and building a new facility for the Dean Maxwell nursing home in Roscrea.

The Dean Maxwell home is being downgraded step by step and slowly but gradually is moving towards closure, one which is unwritten and by stealth. With the bare minimum of maintenance over the past five years, the HSE knows full well that HIQA will intervene and deem it unfit for purpose. The HSE is a casual bystander awaiting the inevitability of closure. It has done absolutely nothing to offer an alternative solution and seems happy to run down the clock. It is abundantly clear that it is HSE policy to transfer long-stay beds from Roscrea to Nenagh. The blinkered attitude of the estates management section of the HSE towards Roscrea was confirmed by its dismissive response to a proposal to provide alternative accommodation in Roscrea. In a project that required no HSE capital funding, the developer of the primary care centre in Roscrea agreed to adapt plans to incorporate on the same site a purpose-built 40-bed nursing home. This would operate on a lease-back agreement to be managed and run by the HSE. With unprofessional haste and without due consideration, the HSE rejected the proposal. It is unwilling and unable to provide a credible reason for its decision.

As the clock ticks for the Dean Maxwell nursing home, the HSE has failed to guarantee the future of elderly care in Roscrea. I have raised this matter in private with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly. I request their intervention to find a sensible, practical solution to retain the Dean Maxwell home in Roscrea.

I thank Deputy Lowry for raising with me on Leaders' Questions this issue concerning the Dean Maxwell community nursing unit in Roscrea. As has been said, this is one of a few residential units for the elderly in Tipperary which, as we are all aware, is a very large county covered by two separate HSE areas. Like many community nursing units across the country, the Dean Maxwell unit has a long, proud and reputable history of caring for the elderly community in Roscrea since it opened in 1974. It is a home away from home for 29 older people who cannot live independently. It also provides day services that are open seven days a week and respite services. It is in an older building on a very tight site. The HSE is working closely with HIQA to ensure that standards and services are maintained in the unit. The internal layout is restricting the types of services that can be provided by the unit and the HSE is reviewing the situation on an ongoing basis as part of its service planning for 2021 and beyond.

It is important to state that the unit will continue to be registered with HIQA for the next three years. In its most recent report, HIQA noted that residents spoke extremely fondly of the services and care provided within the unit. As the Deputy alluded to, the NDP has funding to provide a new 50-bed community nursing unit in Nenagh. That does not mean services in the Dean Maxwell nursing home will be reduced as a result. It is important that residential units of this kind are rooted in the communities they serve and that there is local access and utilisation of such facilities.

I take on board what the Deputy is saying. The Government is committed to meeting the wider health needs of older people in Roscrea and north County Tipperary and we are conscious of the demographic pressures. We will need more such facilities in the future not fewer. The Dean Maxwell centre will continue to play its role. I will request that the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, meet Deputy Lowry and other public representatives from County Tipperary to discuss the current and future service needs of the Dean Maxwell unit and any potential options which may be considered into the future.

I appreciate that commitment from the Taoiseach.

There are three options available in Roscrea and I would like some action on them. One is to review the current detailed plan put forward by the development company to combine a new nursing home unit on the same site as the new medical centre. The second option is to use the 3 acre greenfield site owned by the HSE at the rear of Cré House health centre and build a modern, HIQA-compliant community nursing home with a capital funding allocation. The third option is to refurbish and extend the existing building. This option is problematic as the building can only be extended to the front and this would encroach on the adjoining public car park. This car park already overflows at Sunday masses, weddings and funerals. There is also the issue of caring for residents while such work is ongoing.

This is a priority issue for me. It is imperative that the HSE service plan is revised to include Roscrea and it is vital that an elderly care project for Roscrea is included in the new revised plan. I appreciate that the Taoiseach is offering a meeting with the Minister and the representative groups together with public representatives and I hope that we can make some progress on a viable solution at that meeting.

Some refurbishment has been undertaken lately on the unit and more is planned for 2021. I am told the HSE have not received any formal proposal about the new unit being built on the same site as the new primary care centre in Roscrea but I know what the Deputy is saying in that regard. I assure him that the Government is anxious to see the Dean Maxwell centre continue to provide and develop services so it continues to provide a highly-professional and flexible service to older people and their families in Roscrea. It is acknowledged all round that the existing site is exceptionally tight even for an extension. This is the case even when one allows for the local authority's offer of the adjacent car park to facilitate an expansion of the centre but that is problematic as well. A serious look will be taken at this to ensure that there is a viable, sustainable option adopted to deal with the elderly care needs of people in this location.