Mr. Phelim Quinn:

I did not quite catch the end of the Deputy's statement. I should say again that through the publication of the nursing home expert panel recommendations, there are immediate, medium and long-term changes proposed for legislation. It is not always appropriate for the systems regulator to be the investigator of individual complaints or specific matters. I referenced earlier our call for the development of adult safeguarding legislation that would enable the investigation of abuse and neglect, including institutional abuse and neglect if that is suspected in a particular case.

In addition, I recognise there has been a recent statement by the Ombudsman in which he called for an extension of the powers of his office in investigating individual complaints. I suppose there are both legislative and other proposed modalities that could be brought into legislation and we await a Government decision on what they might be.