Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I welcome the delegation. I remind the Ceann Comhairle that his predecessor used always say céad míle fáilte, the 100,000 welcomes.

On 31 May 2005 on the Leas Cross issue, the Taoiseach said that the "Prime Time" programme:

uncovered shocking treatment of vulnerable people in the units investigated. No excuse should be offered to defend what happened, as there is no defence for it.

Despite that shock and the promises the Government made, it is still failing to protect our elderly and vulnerable citizens who found themselves in nursing homes. Last week I raised the issue of Leas Cross and the O'Neill report into 95 deaths in that nursing home. The response was the normal response of the Government, like the three monkeys, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. It seems that the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have not seen the report, have not looked for it and do not know what it contains. It seems as if the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and other members of the Government want to hide behind a legal wall and avoid taking responsibility for what is a fundamentally serious issue.

Early last year the Health Service Executive sought tenders from nursing homes for 100 high and immediate-dependency beds. Some 85 nursing homes submitted tenders in that process. All of these homes were evaluated. The second stage of that evaluation required visits to the nursing homes by representatives of the HSE. As a result of that process 15 nursing homes were awarded contracts for beds and 70 homes were unsuccessful. Deputy O'Dowd, who has been pursuing the matter for some time, has been informed that the process also uncovered nursing homes with a very poor service of care for the elderly. We have also been informed that the O'Neill report made a recommendation to the HSE in February which stated:

Residents (and their families) of any nursing homes that scored poorly in the ERHA tendering process in 2005 for Heavy Dependency/Intermediate Care Beds should be informed of this as a matter of some urgency, as there is a likelihood that there are residents with high or maximum dependency in all of these nursing homes.

Is it not a shocking indictment——

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