The Junior Minister for older people, Mary Butler TD, has said she is concerned over what she called a “contagion effect” of nursing homes closing down.
In her comments, the minister suggested this was being done in order for operators to repurpose themselves as accommodation for refugees.
The comments were initially made on MidWest radio where Butler said she was “genuinely concerned” about a trend she says she has seen in the last three months saying eight nursing homes have closed over that time period, and that four have “de-registered with HIQA in the last two weeks alone.”
She continued that she had been made aware of some nursing home operators having changed their “business model” to provide care to other “vulnerable cohorts of society”.
Butler called for a ‘cooling off period’ of 6 months to allow residents to be moved to other suitable accommodation by family and relevant authorities before closures take place.
However, the claim that such nursing homes are closing in order to reopen as refugee centres has been denied, while a series of challenges to their successful running have come to light.
At a time in Irish history when it seems our government is determined to keep wave after wave of uncontrolled immigration into our country flowing unchecked, at a time when it seems everything short of phone boxes is being turned into refugee centres, it is perhaps not out of the realm of possibility that this could, or indeed, might be happening.
It seems our policy makers are perfectly happy to promise ten of thousands of migrants free housing and all the rest when in reality many of them are simply crammed into repurposed facilities such as was the case in Finglas.
After all we have seen Dublin’s two biggest hotels, City West and the Red Cow turned into direct provision.
As Gript has exposed time and time again many of those claiming asylum on this little island are not in fact fleeing regions of conflict, or persecution.
This has been done at a time when our lucrative tourism industry is struggling to get back on its feet after over two years of Europe’s most draconian lockdown.
Niamh Uí Bhriain wrote about the abject nightmare this reckless decision has inflicted on our country, unsurprisingly with the most vulnerable amongst us hit hardest.
Nursing Homes Ireland CEO Tadhg Daly refuted the Minister Mary Butler’s claims saying “There’s no nursing home closing to become a centre for refugees. Nursing homes are closing because they are being forced to close”.
The co-owner of a privately run 25 bed nursing home in Westmeath spoke on RTERadio1 this morning saying her family had taken the difficult decision to close due to “soaring energy costs” and “strict requirements” from HIQA.
Clare McNally how it was the ‘most difficult decision she and her family had ever made’, she and her sister took over the family business, which had been in operation for 35 years, after their parents retired.
She spoke of how electricity bills had gone from €2,500 to €5,000 and how canisters of gas had shot up from €800 to €2,200 per tank.
McNally also said she had spent approximately €100,000 bringing the building up to fire regulation standards only to be told further works were necessary.
Much like the story of private landlords deciding to cease operation, it would seem that government policy, not greed or profiteering, is what may be forcing any small-time business operators out of their industry.