Nursing Homes Ireland is warning the nursing home sector is at a critical juncture.
An ESRI report into post-pandemic developments at nursing homes says 15 medium or large companies now operate 38 per cent of all long-term residential care beds.
The Irish Society of Physicians in Geriatric Medicine says the private sector in particular needs to do more to recruit and retain staff.
Owner of the 40-bed Powdermill Nursing Home in Ballincollig, Joseph Peters told RedFM News that smaller homes find it difficult to keep staff:
"Ireland has a shortage of nurses. In the gerontology area, I wouldn't have had an application from an Irish nurse in 10 years. We're reliant on nurses from mainly the Philippines and India same as in the hospitals. And then what happens is when we've paid all the fees to bring them here to visas everything, then after two or three years then they go to the hospitals.
