A year ago, a commitment was given by the former Minister, Stephen Donnelly, when he wrote to me to say that the new nursing home in Nenagh would be opened as a nursing home after completion of the 12-month contract signed with a private operator to take over the nursing home in order for it to be used as a step-down facility for UHL. I fought for this nursing home. The Minister of State knows it is badly needed in the mid-west as he is also from the mid-west. I fought for it for years because HIQA stated the old St. Conlon's home was not fit for purpose and I accepted that. We found a site and, as part of the Government I was in, we got funding of €25 million. It was built, fair play to the HSE and those who fought to get it. Last April, the town of Nenagh and its surrounds were shocked when the HSE announced that, effectively, it would be taken over as a step-down facility and run by a private company. Nenagh had been screwed when a Fianna Fáil Government closed our emergency department and put our hospital down to a different level. The people felt they were being screwed again with regard to the nursing home and went out on the streets to protest it. As a TD and public representative for 20 years based in Nenagh I know of so many families who cannot find elderly care. They cannot find rehab or respite. Here was a 50-bed state-of-the-art nursing home, the best built in Ireland, and it was being taken over. It was a disgrace. To compound this disgrace it was privatised. Residents in St. Conlon's have never got to transfer to the facility and many of them have passed away since. The staff never got to transfer. Recruitment never happened for local staff. I have had to fight to get people into nursing homes throughout the mid-west and further afield, in Galway, Laois and everywhere, you name it. We have had to fight to get people even though we have a 50-bed state-of-the-art unit, which is the best in Ireland, sitting right beside the hospital and our new primary care centre in the middle of the town. It is not acceptable. What the former Minister said, and what the regional executive officer, REO, of the HSE said, was that it would be used as a step-down facility for one year to get us over the winter. The winter is gone and we are now into spring. We were told it would be handed back as a residential facility by this summer. Then it was linked to the 96-bed block in Limerick. This is the famous block for which the Minister of State and I both fought for many years, and which is being built at rapid speed to be fair. On Tipp FM a week or so ago, Dr. Hennessy, the new clinical lead in UHL, was asked whether it would honour opening the nursing home in the summer of this year. He said he had been assured by the REO before he went on the show that it would be open this year. That was all fine until I received a reply to a parliamentary question asking the exact same thing. In his correspondence to me, Ian Carter, CEO of mid-west acute and older people services, referred to my correspondence dated 21 February 2025 and told me no date for the initiative has been agreed at this time. This contradicts what the clinical lead said a week before. Will the Minister of State answer to the people of Nenagh and its surrounds, and all the residents, their families and all the workers, on whether our nursing home will be open this summer as committed to by the HSE, the previous Government and this Government? Are we in a situation whereby it will be reneged on and we will not be in a position to trust the HSE or this Government on elderly care in Nenagh?
Sentiment score: -0.04
I accept the Minister of State's honesty and directness in this and I appreciate his response. I have to ask, though, why did the HSE send me this response to a parliamentary question within the past few days saying it did not have a date and did not know? If the Minister of State can confirm to the House that it is happening after 12 months, which is this summer, what is going on? Why are parliamentary questions not answered honestly? The Minister of State has stated on the record of the Dáil - and I accept it - that it will be within 12 months, which is this summer.
Sentiment score: 0.17
I take his word that will happen. I must point out to the Minister of State that the company, Bartra, is advertising 12-month contracts for clinical nurses in Nenagh. If it is advertising for clinical nurses in Nenagh for 12 months, it must expect it is going to stay there a bit longer. By the way, at the end of this I want to see the total amount Bartra was paid for doing this because I expect it will be colossal. Why is it advertising for multiple posts in Nenagh on 12-month contracts if, as the Minister of State says, this will be handed back to the people of Nenagh and surrounds this summer? I have huge affection for the people involved here. St. Conlon's, the saving of St. Conlon's and the creation of this new CNU are central to everything I believe in politically and everything for which I have fought for years. I fought for this for years. The people of Nenagh have huge affection for this. People who were residents and who have passed away had fought for this unit and wanted to move across to it. Their families have been left without ever getting their loved ones across to this unit. There is an inherent contradiction here. I take the Minister of State's word. He is an honourable Member and an honourable Minister of State. I take his word that this is happening this summer and what the HSE have responded to in my parliamentary question will not happen but that it will do what he says and that moreover, the issue of Bartra looking for people for 12 months also will not affect the movement of the residents by this summer and all the staff will be in place.
Sentiment score: 0.12
I will indeed, that is no problem.
Sentiment score: -0.60