Relatives driving out of the gates of Leas Cross nursing home yesterday evening expressed concern for the well-being of their family members, following the announcement that the home will close.
Several also suggested, however, that the sense among many staff, relatives and residents at the home was that its closure was inevitable.
This was particularly true in light of claims by Leas Cross owner John Aherne that the home was no longer financially viable due to the decision of the HSE to remove public patients.
Angela O'Brien, whose father, James Behan, has been a resident at Leas Cross for over a year, said she had been told that a place at another home might not become available until mid-August.
She was unsure what would be happening to him until then, however, and she hoped the deadline for the closure could be extended to allow him to remain there until he could be moved.
"I certainly don't want him to go into a hospital," she said. "My father mightn't get a place until mid-August . . . he is really at home here and knows the layout.We have been very happy with the standard of care."
"The decision to close it was kind of inevitable, really, but it's shocking at the same time."
Another visitor, who did not wish to be named, said he was upset for his father, who has been a resident for around 18 months.
Having visited his father twice a week, he said staff "couldn't be any better". He added that he did not know why he had been advised to move his father to Leas Cross from another home, when the authorities clearly suspected there were problems there.
"I'm very happy with the place. I would rather see it stay open," he said. "The only problem he had was in the last six to eight weeks, when dad got an awful colour and we had to get a doctor for him. But dad is always clean.
"We have no idea when he is being moved, there has been no date given . . . You don't know how it will affect him until he moves.
"They shouldn't close it, its just a reaction . . . if there's a problem, don't close the whole place down."
Another woman visiting said: "I think somebody at the top made a decision to close it and wasn't going to change their mind."