Bank of Ireland has launched a second €75 million fund aimed at the domestic nursing home sector.
A similarly sized fund established last January was fully subscribed and this prompted the release of a second, a spokeswoman for the bank said.
The fund does not provide preferential lending rates for nursing home developers. Rather it is administered by a "dedicated team with expertise in the nursing home sector", the bank spokeswoman said.
Denis Bergin, head of the bank's Retail Intermediary Banking unit said in a statement there were 20 planning applications for new nursing homes with a further 15 applications for extensions and improvements in 2007 and this year was showing similar levels of activity.
Tadhg Daly, chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland said over 65 per cent of nursing home beds were provided by the private and voluntary sector.
"There is a significant and growing move in the private and voluntary nursing home sector to provide skilled specialist care such as rehabilitation and brain injury care."
