A large crowd gathered outside Micheál Martin’s office calling for increased payments to the nursing home. 

Protestors delivered a letter to the Tánaiste's Cork office calling on the Government to intervene to increase payments to Beaumont Nursing Home in Cork.   

The home says it will be forced to pull out of the Fair Deal Scheme unless payment rates are increased.  

The CareChoice facility has more than 70 residents, with 56 staying under the Fair Deal Scheme. 

According to Beaumont, it is under “extreme financial pressure” due to the disparity between the cost of caring for patients and the money it receives from the scheme. 

The CareChoice nursing home planned to pull out of the Fair Deal Scheme this month but have pushed the deadline to June in hopes of securing increased funding from the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF). 

Protestors outside Tánaiste Michael Martin's office in Cork. They are calling for increased rates under the Fair Deal Scheme to prevent Beaumont Nursing Home pulling out of the scheme and asking non-fee paying residents to leave.

Mark Kelleher, whose 81-year-old mother has Alzheimers and lives at Beaumont, said elderly people should not be put in this position.  

“The elderly has helped build this country,” he said. “They've raised families. They've paid taxes.” 

He said his father may have to sell his home to help look after his wife if Beaumont pull out of the Fair Deal Scheme. 

A spokesperson for Tánaiste said the company has chosen a “very political strategy designed to leverage results for itself”. 

“It is clear that the process of negotiations with the [NTPF] has not been exhausted,” they said.  

“€1.5 billion of the total Health Budget has been allocated to support 22,700 under the Fair Deal through the NTPF.” 

They said Minister of State for Health Mary Butler is doing everything possible to resolve these issues, and they urge Beaumont to engage with the NTPF to find a solution.