Healthcare Infrastructure Provision Dail Éireann — 2026-06-10 ============================================================ Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny I thank the Deputy for raising this serious issue. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister of State with responsibility for older people and housing, Deputy O'Donnell. Long-term residential care is a crucial part of our healthcare system. Across the country, our HSE community nursing units, CNUs, and community hospitals play a vital role in the provision of long-term care and other services. The Government is committed to continued investment in healthcare infrastructure which supports the highest quality care for our older people. This investment includes the community nursing unit capital programme, which was launched to ensure up to 90 of our public community nursing units and community hospitals would be refurbished or replaced to ensure the best-quality environments for our older people. The public private partnership, PPP, aspect of the CNU programme continues to progress and will deliver 528 beds in seven facilities across the country. The new CNU in Killarney is part of the PPP project and will have 130 beds, with, as the Deputy said, 50 long-stay beds, 30 dementia-specific beds and 50-short stay beds. The CNU will provide a high-quality living environment which will be in line with all regulatory requirements. The HSE advised me it expects the new Killarney community nursing unit to open before the end of June. The HSE is still saying that. This only came to me yesterday. The opening is dependent on registration approval from HIQA, so the Deputy is right that this is what the HSE is waiting on. The HSE is engaging with HIQA regarding a small number of outstanding issues. The Deputy is right that this is about opening these units, which are critical. Once HIQA registration is granted, the HSE will set a date and move forward with the transfer of residents from St. Columbanus's Community Hospital and the district hospital to the new building. HSE South West has assured the Minister there is ongoing engagement with residents and their families ahead of the transfer, so there has been a lot of engagement. All current staff from both St. Columbanus's Community Hospital and Killarney Community Hospital will transfer to the new facility. I have been advised by the HSE that the recruitment campaigns are under way for the additional staff required to extend occupancy to the full 130-bed capacity. I am aware - this is what the Deputy spoke about - that the INMO served notice of industrial action last Friday in relation to staffing levels at the newly built Killarney community nursing unit. The HSE has advised there has been active dialogue by way of weekly meetings with unions over the last two months. The HSE advised that much has been agreed and some further engagements regarding staff rosters are in the final stages. The HSE is, therefore, in the final stages of this process and there has been a lot of communication. The HSE will meet the INMO again tomorrow. The HSE hopes an agreement can be reached on the remaining outstanding issues at this meeting. I thank the staff and representative bodies for their continued engagement. We know the excellent work they do. HSE South West will continue to engage with residents, their families, staff and the wider community on all updates about the opening of the new Killarney community nursing unit. The opening of the new unit is an absolute priority for me, the Minister and Ministers of State and the Department of Health. I have no doubt this state-of-the-art CNU will enhance the lives of older people in Killarney and surrounding areas for many years to come by providing the highest quality health and social care services. I look forward to seeing it officially opened. I am sure the Deputy will be at the opening. He is right that this is important. It is about everybody working together to get the unit opened. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-10/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:47+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-10