State must step in to directly operate and manage Emeis Ireland nursing homes. Labour proposes to curb big business involvement in nursing home sector.

• Government must take clear steps to immediately operate and manage the Emeis controlled 27 nursing homes. Patient safety and welfare cannot wait for the HIQA review.  
• Labour to set out proposals to end big business nursing home involvement in the nursing home sector in Private Members motion on Wednesday. 
• We need fundamental reform of Fair Deal funding model and legislation is urgently required to ensure minimum safe staffing levels and decent pay and conditions in the sector.

Labour health spokesperson Marie Sherlock TD said

“Following the harrowing revelations of the RTÉ Investigates into poor standards of care in Emeis nursing homes, the Labour Party will use it’s Dáil Private Members’ Time on Wednesday (July 2nd at 10am) to  put forward a series of sweeping reforms for the sector. 

“20 years since the Leas Cross scandal, investigative journalism by RTÉ has once again exposed distressing and unacceptable practices and conditions in private Irish nursing homes. The big difference now is that 20 years ago, 30% of nursing homes were privately owned. That number has exploded to almost 80% in 2025, with Emeis Ireland one of the largest operators with 27 nursing homes. 

“The reality is that for some operators, generating a good profit margin is prioritised over the welfare of nursing home residents. We cannot allow a situation where some in the for-profit sector fail our elderly.  

“Labour is demanding Government move swiftly to guarantee the safety and welfare of all residents in Emeis owned nursing homes. 

“There is currently a crisis of confidence in HIQA’s inspection processes and while a review of all Emeis homes is underway, we believe the State needs to take decisive action now to step in directly operate and manage all Emeis controlled homes. Direct interventions by the HSE took place in a number of nursing homes during the pandemic and it needs to happen now with Emeis owned nursing homes.

“Over the medium term, the State needs to take steps to take over these homes on a permanent basis. Added to that, the State needs to end the role of big business in nursing homes. 

“This starts with a fundamental overhaul of the Fair deal funding scheme. 

“We need to see an end to the individualised negotiation process between the NTPF and provider, the introduction of service level agreements with individual providers,  the ringfencing of funding for labour costs and the introduction of specific rules relating to the control of the nursing home property and operating company. 

“Furthermore, legislation must be passed on minimum staffing levels and that there is decent pay paid across all of the nursing home sector.

“With an increased role for home care supports for older persons in future years, we know that the profile of nursing home patients will become more complex, more dependent and in need of greater levels of specialised care in the future. 

“There is a massive job of work to do to restore trust in nursing home care in Ireland. Every person in Ireland should feel confident that their loved ones will be treated with dignity and respect if they enter nursing home care. Sadly, the grim reality exposed by RTÉ shows that many private, for-profit facilities are failing that basic test.

“This needs to be a watershed moment in Irish life and a turning point. Let’s see action from Government now to introduce comprehensive safeguarding reforms before the summer, ensure HIQA has the teeth and resources it needs to do its job properly, and take nursing homes owned by Emeis Ireland into State control for the health and dignity of older people across the country.”

 

 

Motion re: Nursing Homes 

 

That Dáil Éireann –

 

Notes that:

• investigative journalism by RTÉ has again exposed distressing and unacceptable practices and conditions in private Irish nursing homes, 20 years on since the Leas Cross scandal;
• the failure of State to provide sufficient public long term residential care places has led to the growing privatisation of nursing home care while the State picks up the majority of costs through the Fair Deal Scheme;
• 30% of nursing homes were privately owned twenty years ago, rising to nearly 80% now, with Emeis Ireland one of the largest operators with 27 nursing homes;
• ESRI research since the pandemic outlines the consolidation of the sector into larger operator groups and the decline of independently owned, family run nursing homes;
• there are serious shortcomings in the inspection and enforcement regime by HIQA with inadequate regulatory oversight, ambiguity in the application of existing powers and a lack of appropriate powers beyond the power to stop admissions or remove a license;
• there are no minimum staffing levels required in nursing homes, or binding guidance provided to operators;
• there is no sectoral pay agreement in place, and a 2023 PWC report documents a staff turnover rate in the private nursing home sector of up to 38% for nurses and 54% for healthcare assistants;
• the 2024 update to the Ombudsman’s Wasted Lives report documents that over 1,200 people under 65 remain in nursing homes due to a lack of appropriate alternatives;

 

recalls that:

• the French parent of Emeis Ireland, formerly known as Orpea, required a state led bailout in 2022 after the publication of Gravediggers, a book exposing the mistreatment of care residents, where the company maximised its profits and dividends to shareholders based on a complex strategy of drastic cost cutting and the maximum use of public funding;
• the Law Reform Commission published a comprehensive report on a regulatory framework for adult safeguarding in April 2024, and the Programme for Government commits to a new national policy in the health and social sector;

recognises that:

• the nursing home sector has become dominated by big business, and a for profit model will not provide the standard of care demanded by families and carers;
• with an increased role for home care support for older persons in future years, the profile of nursing home patients will become more complex, more dependent and in need of greater levels of specialised care in the future;
• increased powers and resourcing for HIQA alone will not resolve concerns about a profit-led model of care;
• the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of residents in private nursing homes;
• The Commission on Care for Older People is examining the provision of health and social care services and supports for older people;

calls for the Government to:

 

• take clear steps to ensure the State takes over the 27 nursing homes controlled by Emeis Ireland;
• prioritise the quality and safety of care of older persons in overhauling how nursing homes are funded and regulated, and provide HIQA with stronger enforcement powers;
• fundamentally reform the Fair Deal funding model for nursing homes, public, private and voluntary, starting with an end to the individualised negotiation process between the NTPF and provider, the introduction of service level agreements, ringfencing of funding for labour costs and the introduction of specific rules relating to the control of the nursing home property and operating company;
• legislate to ensure minimum safe staffing levels and implement the outstanding recommendations in the Covid-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel report and the 2022 report of the Strategic Workforce Advisory Group on Home Carers and Nursing Home Health Care Assistants;
• require nursing home operators in receipt of public funding to recognise trade unions and engage in collective bargaining to ensure competitive rates of pay, terms and conditions;
• ensure nursing home operators provide professional development education for staff within working hours including mandatory safeguarding, infection prevention and control and dignity at work training;
• limit all new nursing homes operations to 84 beds and set out a schedule for all existing nursing homes to transition to an agreed appropriate size with HIQA;
• ensure the revised NDP includes a funded programme to develop new public long term residential care through community nursing homes to meet the needs of our aging population;
• implement the Law Reform Commission framework on adult safeguarding by passing the required legislation as a priority in the autumn and establishing an independent national agency;
• introduce a new Fair Deal for Care by implementing the long delayed statutory homecare scheme to support older people to age positively in their own home and community;
• adequately resource the home care sector to deliver more care in the community and introduce a Fair Deal one stop shop to support families and reduce red tape;
• finally implement the recommendations of the 2021 Wasted Lives report and commit to fully funding the under 65s programme office.

 

• Marie Sherlock, Mark Wall, Ciarán Ahern, Ivana Bacik, Alan Kelly, Eoghan Kenny, George Lawlor, Ged Nash, Robert O’Donoghue, Conor Sheehan, Duncan Smith.