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Mark Stedman/RollingNews.ie

An order of nuns just sold their south Dublin nursing home to a private operator

Orwell Healthcare, one of Dublin’s largest facilities, has taken over Queen of Peace.

AN ORDER OF nuns has sold a well-known nursing home in south Dublin to the private healthcare firm behind one of the city’s biggest facilities.

Fora has learned that the 45-bed Queen of Peace nursing home in Rathgar was recently sold by the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres to Orwell Healthcare.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, however it is understood that the transaction was likely a multimillion-euro deal.

Many of the residents in the facility are there under the Fair Deal scheme, where the state helps to pay for their care.

Following the conclusion of the deal, Orwell has negotiated a higher contribution from the state.

While the Sisters of Saint Paul were paid €780 per person per week for every resident in the facility under the Fair Deal scheme, Orwell will be paid €1,124 by the HSE.

The company claims that the move brings Queen of Peace nursing home in line with other facilities in Dublin.

File Photo A review of the Fair Deal nursing home support scheme is expected to be published today by the Department of Health. It sets out a range of options for the Government in terms of future long-term funding of the scheme. An expert group is being Nursing home residents Sam Boal Sam Boal

The Sisters of Saint Paul is a Catholic religious order founded in France that focuses on causes such as care for the poor, old or mentally ill.

It owned and operated the Queen of Peace nursing home, which was opened in 1972. The order does not appear to have many assets in Ireland, besides the sold nursing home – which is also listed as its point of contact.

Fora had not received a response to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Upgrade

Orwell Healthcare says that it plans to invest in and upgrade Queen of Peace “so that it meets the high standards which are in place in its sister nursing home, Orwell Private”.

orwell private nursing home Orwell Private Orwell Private

Monaghan man Peter Jones bought Orwell House in Rathgar when he left Maynooth seminary about three decades ago.

For years the nursing home was a relatively small one, with between 45 and 60 residents, and was run by Jones and his wife Mary.

The facility got a big upgrade in 2016, with Jones spending a reported €15 million to revamp the facility. The overhaul supported a claimed 180 jobs, and the new expanded facility has 170 beds.

Jones was in the middle of the upgrade when the recession hit and the project was halted. According to the Irish Times, he sold his family home in an effort to secure more funding for the project, which helped to get development back underway.

While the Queen of Peace deal marks Orwell Healthcare’s first acquisition, a spokeswoman for the company said that it isn’t on the lookout for more nursing homes.

“There will be no major changes made initially apart from the upgrading of existing facilities, which need investment,” she said.

She added that the company renegotiated the price paid to it by the HSE under the Fair Deal scheme because the previous rate being paid to the nuns “was way below the Dublin average”.

Fair Deal

The Fair Deal scheme was set up by the government to ensure that elderly people could access nursing home care if needed.

Under the initiative, elderly people pay a contribution towards their nursing home care, which is usually 80% of their income, with the state making up the difference.

For example, if the cost of a nursing home was €1,000 per week and 80% of a person’s income was €500, the other €500 would be paid by the state.

The Orwell spokeswoman said that because the majority of residents at the Queen of Peace nursing home are there under the Fair Deal scheme, the increased rate negotiated by the company will not affect them.

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Written by Paul O’Donoghue and posted on Fora.ie

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    Mute Cars
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:03 PM

    5%. Who makes this suff up! More like 25% at least.

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    Mute Daniel Roche
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    Aug 30th 2023, 2:09 PM

    @Cars: Facts mostly.

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    Mute another one? what's going on is the semi state sec
    Favourite another one? what's going on is the semi state sec
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    Aug 30th 2023, 3:38 PM

    @Cars: it’s a rolling year stat….. It’s up 18.4% from January 2021. Maybe that’s what you refer to. Google “CSO CPI inflation calculator”….. An eye opening tool

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    Mute Anon
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    Aug 30th 2023, 7:42 PM

    @Daniel Roche: skewed statistics more like. If only it was 5%, that’s fairytale stuff to feed to the general population. The current government (and previous) failed miserably to deliver. Their only option to stand any chance of remaining in power will be to try indoctrinate the citizens with complete BS to paint a fictional picture of delivering.

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    Mute John Fahy
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:02 PM

    Ii’ a lot more than that, grocery prices have soared.

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    Mute Trent
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:00 PM

    5% ? put 2 if front or the 5 and it’s correct

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    Mute Eddienowy Byrne
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    Aug 30th 2023, 12:57 PM

    Diesel gone up over 10c in Circle K in two weeks in Tallaght

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    Mute Murro
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:15 PM

    @Eddienowy Byrne: same here in Wicklow

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    Mute Gavin Kelly
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:23 PM

    @Eddienowy Byrne: just in time now that the government are putting on 5c on Friday on diesel and 7c on petrol .. they hate giving people a break

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    Mute Thesaltyurchin
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:45 PM

    @Gavin Kelly: That would imply that a break has ever been given.

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    Mute George Vladisavljevic
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:55 PM

    @Gavin Kelly: Especially handy when they can claim their fuel and expenses.

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    Mute Daniel Roche
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    Aug 30th 2023, 2:13 PM

    @Gavin Kelly: That’s a lie and you know it,I’m not agreeing with it but at least tell the truth,that is a major problem and why people will vote FF or FG,they can’t trust the other side,better the devil you know, maybe tell the truth.

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    Mute Eileen Kelly
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    Aug 30th 2023, 2:19 PM

    @George Vladisavljevic: You know the old saying ” All pigs are equal but some pigs are more equal”, Animal Farm.

    33
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    Mute Mick D
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:11 PM

    5% and the rest. They having a laugh

    133
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    Mute Sean Brannigan
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:20 PM

    Fuel rocketing back up as well since they put taxes back on ….this will lead to the increase of prices on everything

    127
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    Mute Rafa C
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:08 PM

    Full shopping bags are down 50%! And the Price has increased by 25%!

    That’s just fact.

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    Mute Thomas
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:31 PM

    Who ever compiled this,please let us all know where you shop.

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    Mute Wolfgang Bonow
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:40 PM

    @Thomas: I shop in German supermarket and the numbers look about right to me, for the period over the last 12 months.
    Definitely not 25% or even +40% as claimed here.
    But maybe it’s my shopping habit – very little processed food on much meat either.

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    Mute Thomas
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:45 PM

    @Wolfgang Bonow: me also,the numbers may not be as high as 25 percent in some cases,but nothing is near as low as 5 percent.

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    Mute Ian Cryan
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    Aug 30th 2023, 2:14 PM

    @Wolfgang Bonow: even the German supermarkets have increased prices big time way more than the 5% spoke abouts.
    They can no way still call themselves discount supermarkets

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    Mute ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
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    Aug 30th 2023, 2:44 PM

    @Wolfgang Bonow: I do too.

    But I noticed bread had increased in price by 17% between my last 2 visits.

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    Mute Adam
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:22 PM

    These so called “journslist” from the journal printing lies and spreading falsehoods for the irish government..
    Shame on you all at the journal,

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    Mute Thomas
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:43 PM

    @Adam: I agree,the authors of this article obviously know this is way down on the reality,but go ahead and publish it anyway.

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    Mute Thomas Reddy
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:16 PM

    Absolute rubbish. Inflation is really running at about 43% easily. I haven’t changed my spending at all and unfortunately for banks their apps are the real key to finding out just how bad inflation really is. My app had my spend at 43% higher than this time last year and I’ve actually cut back on certain things.

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    Mute Tom Newell
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    Aug 30th 2023, 1:57 PM

    5%??? try 15 or 20% with some of the price increases ive seen lately……greed greed and more greed

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    Mute Thomas
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    Aug 30th 2023, 12:59 PM

    They will most definitely need revision,

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    Mute Thesaltyurchin
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    Aug 30th 2023, 8:25 PM

    Brown Thomas getting a Lidl ‘middle isle’ this week apparently

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    Mute Dominic Leleu
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    Aug 31st 2023, 7:56 AM

    It can’t be that number…. Most of the prices have increased by 30 to 50 percent… That are lying.

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    Mute John Stevens
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    Aug 31st 2023, 12:48 PM

    5%? Do they take us for fools or what…And as a lot of comments state the fuel increases will add to inflation even more, not to mention the carbon tax coming in the budget.

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