Care of the elderly in Ireland is being increasingly taken over by big, for-profit companies. The reason is that there has been a systematic downgrading of public nursing homes.
In the 1980s, public nursing homes accounted for about 60% of total beds nationally while private for-profit homes accounted for about 25%.
But today a staggering 74% of long-term residential care homes are run by private businesses for a profit.
This change is a result of deliberate state policy. Special tax breaks were given to private operators and an embargo was placed on public sector recruitment.
Today many of the small businesses are being replaced by giant multinationals like the French companies, Orpea, or InfraVia Capital.
The ESRI has just issued a report that states that the international evidence shows that private dominance of nursing home provision “often creates an environment where profit motives can supersede quality”.
We need to reverse this privatisation and return to properly funded and resourced public nursing homes.
