3228. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the number of nursing homes that have closed in each year since 2018, broken down by county and by whether the home was public, private or voluntary; the number of registered beds lost as a result; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60723/26]

The Chief Inspector of Social Services, in the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), is the national independent regulator of all designated centres for older people in Ireland, including public community nursing units and private nursing homes.

Department of Health officials directed this query to HIQA who have advised the following:

Data from 2018 to present indicates that 92 nursing homes closed during that period involving 2,957 nursing home beds. Over the course of the same time period, 68 new nursing homes opened adding 4,859 additional beds to national nursing home beds capacity. This indicates a net increase in nursing home beds over this time period of 1,902 beds.

Nursing homes data