Nurses and staff at a nursing home in Co Offaly are staging a sit-in in a protest over the failure of the owners to pay wages over the last three weeks.
The owners of the Tullybeg Retirement Village told the Health Service Executive in the Midlands on Monday, that they were ceasing involvement with the nursing home.
Since then 36 residents have been transferred to alternative accommodation in Co Offaly.
Cathy Armstrong, a former Director of Services at the retirement village, has told the Tánaiste that the closure of the nursing home is partially due to a lack of support from the HSE.
Ms Armstrong told Mary Harney that the HSE failed to respond to an offer from Tullybeg to help relieve overcrowding at Tullamore General Hospital at the height of the bed shortage crisis last December.
She claims that as a result the nursing home had not attained enough clients to become profitable.
Ms Armstrong also said the directors of the nursing home had secured a substantial financial facility from their bank to carry out a two-phase development plan but no support was forthcoming from the health authority.
A spokesperson for the HSE in the midlands region told RTÉ News that the HSE could not engage the services of Tullybeg without entering into a full tendering process with all eligible nursing homes.
It is understood that the Rahan facility was not deemed suitable for use as a stepdown facility because of issues surrounding accessibility and staffing numbers.
More than 50 people are employed by Tullybeg Retirement Village. 30 members of staff are staging a sit-in at the premises.
