WITH growing numbers of affluent elderly, the business of private residential care in Ireland is still in the hands of the small operator. As yet, no major company has emerged to establish a significant presence. If there continues to be a lack of domestic investment, the gap could well be filled by some of the major British operators now facing overcapacity, rising costs and falling occupancy rates.

One of the biggest residential care groups, Westminster Health Care, with 86 nursing homes, this week complained of rising costs, government funding curbs and the flu-epidemic which raised the mortality rate among its residents. Westminster is looking for "new investment opportunities" and Ireland could prove as attractive a market for the professional carers as it has for the British supermarket multiples.

Despite bemoaning its lot, Westminster's finances are far from feeble, with half year pre-tax profits to end November last rising 28 per cent to £8 million sterling.