The Irish Times, 11th March, featured a Nursing Homes Ireland opinion article penned by Tadhg Daly, NHI CEO, headlined Time to start planning for our demographic time bomb. Mr Daly outlines the boom in the 85+ population that is forthcoming, stating the country has made little or no preparation for the care requirements of our older old - those aged 80+. "For every 1,000 additional people who can't access nursing homes, there will be an additional cost to the Exchequer of €273 million," he states. "Potentially as a society we may have up to 8,000 people unnecessarily in this situation adding another €2 billion to our severely strained health budget."

Referring to NHI commissioned BDO report Health's Ageing Crisis: Time for Action, Mr Daly states NHI as an organisation is committed, in partnership with others, to solutions. He describes the €35m cut to Fair Deal 2014 budget as an imprudent and irrational move, but states the debate is not about money, but strategy. "The time for inaction is over,"he concludes. "Prevarication has never got anyone anywhere and the State should strike while the opportunity is still there. NHI and our members are ready to play our part."