The homes in Waterford and Cork were closed while Hiqa directed the HSE to take over the Kilkenny home.  The deal to take over Aperee Living includes these three sites as well as the partially completed site in Glanmire and the Rochestown site in Cork—which has full planning for a 100-bed nursing home and 47 independent living units.

Paul Kingston, who served as chief executive of Aperee Living up to June 2022, is leading the consortium to take over the ailing nursing home group. Mr Kingston said he and his investors are “fully committed” to providing the “highest standards of care to all residents at the nursing homes we have acquired”.

“We are very much looking forward to engaging with all our Directors of Nursing and their clinical teams, as well as meeting with residents and their families to ensure we deliver a best in class service in the nursing home sector,” he said.

David O’Shea, the outgoing director of the company and last remaining shareholder, said he is “delighted” that the acquisition has been finalised which he believes will “bring stability and growth to Aperee Living going forward”.

According to Hiqa, inspectors at the Callan nursing home found that residents’ money was used for running the centre, and highlighted chronic staff shortages and fire safety risks.

Inspectors did acknowledge that “residents’ health, social care and spiritual needs were well catered for”.

In the Ballygunner facility, Hiqa found that governance and management systems in place in the centre were “not stable and not clearly defined”. There were also “significant concerns” about the availability of sufficient resources to ensure the effective delivery of care.

Belgooly

Aperee's Belgooly nursing home was closed earlier this year, forcing over 50 residents to find new homes.

The company said at the time that a review had found that there was uncertainty as to the long term viability of the home, along with infrastructural restrictions at the property.

It has been the subject of damning Hiqa reports in relation to fire safety issues.

Aperee confirmed on Tuesday that the Belgooly site is part of the sale, and in response to questions from the Irish Examiner, it said the new owners will “carry out an assessment in the weeks ahead with a view deciding on its use”.

Cork South West-based Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard, who had criticised Aperee’s handling of the Belgooly closure, described the sale of the group as positive news but he sounded several notes of caution.

“We need assurances that the company taking over is financially viable and has enough financial firepower behind it secure all the sites and bring them up to a suitable standard,” he said.

“A range of compliance issues specifically in relation to the Belgooly site were raised in Hiqa reports, and the company needs to ensure that these issues are dealt here, and elsewhere across the entire chain, if required.

“There was a lot of chaos and uncertainty in relation to the Belgooly facility in the last few weeks of its operation.

This was home to over 50 residents, and the way its closure was handled caused great upset to them, to the staff, and in the wider community.

“A lot of the families have unfortunate memories of the last few weeks there, about the uncertainty, the lack of communications, and many are upset at how they were treated.

“I would be surprised if any of those who had to move out would move back in. It’s a real uphill battle for this new nursing home group to restore that confidence.”