O’Dowd denies private nu

Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd asked questions over the ‘wealthy companies’ which run Ireland’s private nursing homes in regards to their ability to pay for Personal Protection Equipment, testing, staff accommodation and extra staff during the COVID-19 crisis, rejecting claims that they had been ‘ left isolated’.

Speaking during the COVID-19 committee which examining the State’s response to the pandemic last week, he noted that the twelve directors of Nursing Homes Ireland were all business people.

‘I looked at their accounts and there are wealthy companies represented among those directors, who are very fine people in every respect. Some €23.3 million was the profit of eight of those directors in the last accounting year. I cannot get the accounts of the other directors because they are part of other companies. Is it fair to say that the nursing homes sector is a privately funded organisation and has a great deal of money to pay for, for example, PPE,’

He was told by Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) chief executive Mr. Tadhg Daly that the sector takes its responsibilities seriously.

Mr Daly said that ‘ the issue with PPE is well rehearsed. The normal supply of PPE was unavailable to the sector. Most of the PPE being garnered for the country was being directed towards the HSE and the HSE alone. It was not an issue of finances, but of accessibility.’

He also told the Louth TD that the sector spent millions of Euros to get extra PPE and staff.

Deputy O’Dowd described as ‘patently and obviously untrue’ allegations by Mr Daly that homes were left isolated by the Department of Health and HSE at the start of the coronavirus pandemic as the committee heard that under the temporary financial assistance scheme to date, €8.7 million has been drawn down by the nursing home sector.

He also complained that some private nursing were not