Choosing a nursing home in Ireland

Start with the register

Every nursing home in Ireland, public, private or voluntary, has to be registered with HIQA before it can admit anyone, and it has to re-register every three years.^[1] HIQA inspects homes both announced and unannounced, at any hour, and publishes a report after every inspection.^[1] The register entry for each home lists its registered provider, the person in charge, how many residents it can take, the registration dates and any conditions attached.^[9]

FairCare shows the register facts for all 547 homes on each profile, with a link to the home’s HIQA page where the inspection reports are. Reading the last two or three reports is the single most useful thing you can do before a visit.

Since 31 March 2025 every home must also have a written visitor policy, and residents have a stated right to see visitors, use the internet and communicate freely.^[1] Ask for the policy.

What to look at on a visit

The HSE advises looking at a few homes and booking a visit before deciding anything.^[3] There is no official checklist for visits. The questions below follow the eight themes of HIQA’s National Standards, which are the standards a home must meet to stay registered.^[2]

• Choice and dignity. Can residents set their own routine, keep their own belongings and money, and have privacy? The standards say each resident should exercise choice in daily life and have property protected.^[2]
• Care planning. Ask how a care plan is written and reviewed. Each resident should have an individual plan based on assessed needs.^[2]
• Food and meals. Ask to see a menu and, if you can, visit at mealtime.^[2]
• Activities and community. What happens on an ordinary weekday? Residents should have a choice of activities and be helped to keep up family and community links.^[2]
• Restraint and medicines. The standards expect a restraint-free environment except where safety requires it, and good medicines management.^[2]
• Staffing. Ask about training, supervision and how many staff are on at night.^[2]
• Complaints. Every provider must have a complaints process by law. If you are not satisfied with the answer you can go to the Office of the Ombudsman, which covers public and private homes; HIQA does not investigate individual complaints.^[1]

Ask about waiting lists and about any extra charges outside the basic weekly rate, and have those extras written into the contract of care before the admission date.^[3][4]

How the Fair Deal scheme shares the cost

The Nursing Homes Support Scheme, usually called Fair Deal, is run by the HSE. You pay a contribution worked out from your income and assets, and the HSE pays the rest of the agreed weekly rate directly to the home.^[4] It covers accommodation, food, nursing and personal care, laundry and basic aids. It does not cover short-term respite or convalescent care, or extra services such as hairdressing, therapies and activities that a home charges for separately.^[4]

The contribution for a single person is 80% of assessable income and 7.5% of the value of assets each year, with the first €36,000 of assets left out. For a couple it is 40% of combined income and 3.75% of combined assets, with €72,000 left out.^[4][5] You never pay more than the actual cost of care, and you keep at least 20% of your income as a personal allowance.^[4]

Your home, or the proceeds of selling it, counts towards the asset contribution for a maximum of three years. After that it is removed from the assessment, whether or not you take the loan described below. The total based on the home is capped at 22.5% of its value for one person and 11.25% for a member of a couple.^[4][5]

If most of your assets are a house or land rather than cash, you can apply for the optional Nursing Home Loan. The HSE pays the asset-based part of your contribution to the home and collects it after your death or when the property is sold, through Revenue, with a charge registered against the property. Repayment falls due within 18 months of the death, or six months of a sale, and inflation is added.^[4][6]

Applying has four steps: the application form, a care needs assessment by a healthcare professional, the financial assessment, and the optional loan. There is no fee to apply, funding cannot be backdated, and there can be a waiting list because the scheme has a fixed budget each year.^[4] HSE Live on 1800 700 700 answers questions about the scheme.^[4]

A home’s published weekly rate is the price agreed for the whole cost of care, not what you will pay. Your share comes from the financial assessment. The HSE publishes the agreed maximum price for every private and voluntary home and the cost of care in public homes.^[7]

Respite and short stays

Respite care gives a family carer a break while the person they care for stays somewhere else, often a nursing home. It is arranged through the public health nurse or GP, and what is available depends on where you live.^[8] Fair Deal does not pay for respite, convalescent or day care.^[4] Carers may qualify for the annual Carer’s Support Grant from the Department of Social Protection.^[8]

Next steps on FairCare

Browse nursing homes by county or city, open a profile to see the HIQA registration facts and the link to inspection reports, and add the homes you want to visit to your shortlist. Where we have read a home’s own website you will also see care types, admissions steps, visiting arrangements and how physiotherapy or GP visits are provided.