Writing in The Irish Times this week, Tadhg Daly, the chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland stated his clear view that nursing homes face an existential threat and a crisis that is putting the viability of the entire sector at risk. We know from data collected by NHI that in the past three years, an astonishing 31 private and voluntary nursing homes have closed. This equates to a loss of 915 beds in the sector. In 2022 alone, 18 nursing homes closed and just four new homes opened. Unfortunately, that trend is not slowing down. This situation is not helped by the fact that as a recent comparative analysis has shown, the price per week of a HSE-run nursing home in County Offaly was €1,959, while private nursing home fees were over €900 less, at €1,009. With respect to County Laois, the situation is even more striking. HSE nursing homes there are charging an average of €2,585 in comparison with €1,039 for privately run facilities.

The clear demographic trajectory here adds an important context to this debate.

The number of people aged 85 and over increased by 25% between 2016 and 2022. In the next 20 years, this demographic is forecast to double and will be most dependent on the person-centred, round-the-clock care provided by nursing homes. Imagine the astonishment when providers woke to the news at the start of this month that the Government intends to lift the ban on private nursing homes becoming refugee centres. I appreciate, as Philip Ryan noted in the Irish Independent, that operators will first have to provide HIQA with six months' notice of their decision to close and undergo an 18 month cooling-off period to give residents and staff time to make alternative arrangements. Unfortunately, however, when these issues are combined - the threat to the sector and the slew of closures - it becomes absolutely clear that there will be nowhere for our vulnerable elderly people to go. The Taoiseach has said that our older people will not be left in the lurch but what is he basing that on? Is he aware of massive levels of additional capacity that exist in the system? I would like him to tell me where that capacity can be found. Many of our loved ones and perhaps some of us here today may come to need the expert care of the nursing home sector. However, when the viability and the future of the sector is under the kind of pressure it is under today, it may be a need that will go unmet, with all the personal and health consequences that brings.

Nursing Homes Ireland is calling for immediate action to be taken to stem the tide of closures. Will the Taoiseach provide me with his plan on how that can be achieved, especially in the context of the policy change that allows for former nursing homes to be completely taken out of the system and repurposed as refugee accommodation centres?

I thank Deputy Nolan for raising this important issue. I acknowledge there are nursing homes under financial pressure and some have closed. At the same time, others are making substantial profits and are opening. New nursing homes are opening as well as nursing homes closing. Last year we had a net gain in the total number of beds in nursing homes and so far this year we are seeing that happen again. More nursing home beds are opening than closing. I acknowledge that some are closing but others are opening.

With respect to using former nursing homes to accommodate refugees or people seeking international protection, IP, we are strictly saying that can only happen after two years. That is to ensure that no nursing home owner makes a decision to close a nursing home in order to turn it into refugee or IP accommodation. I know the Deputy did not say this, but some people are somehow making out that nursing home operators are shutting down with a view to making more money from providing accommodation to refugees or IP applicants. That is not true or fair. It is not a nice conspiracy theory to be putting around the place quite frankly as it is not the case. That is why we require them to be closed for two years, that the person who owns it must essentially have no income from it for two years or even has to dispose of it. No nursing home will close with a view to making a better return from refugee accommodation. We will not allow that to happen.

The overall budget for nursing homes through the fair deal scheme is €1.4 billion per year now, assisting more than 22,000 people. It increased by a further €100 million this year to €223 million. Budget 2023 saw more than €40 million in additional funding for the nursing home support scheme, or fair deal scheme, to provide an uplift in the maximum prices chargeable by private and voluntary nursing homes as negotiated. It is imperative that private and voluntary providers continue to engage in the process set out in the scheme. We are conscious of the financial challenges many of them face. We provided substantial additional funding to private and voluntary nursing homes over the course of the pandemic and in recent years. That includes €149 million through the temporary assistance payment scheme, the provision of personal protective equipment and oxygen costing the State €75 million, and the new temporary inflation payment scheme which was established last year to help private and voluntary nursing homes with increases in energy costs. It covered 75% of the year-on-year increase in costs with a monthly cap of more than €5,000 per nursing home.

I thank the Taoiseach for his response. Not enough new nursing homes are opening to meet the capacity demands that are coming down the tracks. We are all aware that Ireland has an ageing population. That is a fact and a reality we need to plan for and be prepared for. However, people have serious, genuine and well-founded concerns. The fact is that Government policy, the policy decision to lift the ban, has pitted one vulnerable group against another vulnerable group in society, which is wrong. These beds must be safeguarded and I would like to know what measures the Government will put in place to ensure there is capacity in the future. We must plan now to ensure there is capacity to meet an emergency. This is an emergency coming down the tracks. We need an emergency response. We need a pragmatic solution that does not include a dangerous policy that pits one vulnerable group against another vulnerable group.

Deputy, I absolutely agree that we should not do that, so please make sure your remarks and the remarks of other people who support you do not do that either. It is not right to create the kind of impression that somehow older people will be turfed out of nursing homes-----

I have not done that. When did I do that? I am asking questions on behalf of my constituents.

I will leave it at that.

I have not done that. I asked a genuine honest question.

Please Deputy

I will answer the Deputy's question here, but nobody in this Chamber is naive to the subtext of what is going on.

You cannot make it up.

Allow the Taoiseach to respond.

Can I please know about the plan because my constituents in Laois-Offaly are asking me? I am sure when the Taoiseach visits the constituency he will be asked as well.

Will you please allow the Taoiseach to respond?

If he responds directly. I will not sit here listening to nonsense.

Some nursing homes are closing. They tend to be smaller nursing homes that would need a lot of investment to continue. New nursing homes are also opening. They tend to be larger and state-of-the-art. Overall the number of beds available in nursing homes is increasing. It increased by 88 last year. It has increased by 161 so far this year. That is what is happening.

Just 61.

It is 161 so far this year.