Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in to answer our questions. For us, as Deputies, to be relevant, we must fight for and ask questions on behalf of the people who cannot fight and ask questions for themselves. I am talking about vulnerable elderly people. First of all, I regret that many such people died on their own without being allowed visits from family members and friends. If their families could not understand why they could not go in to see their loved ones, the elderly men and women who died on their own certainly did not understand why such visits were not permitted. I am still not happy with the number of visits that are allowed for the families of people in district and general hospitals and nursing homes. The severe restrictions that remain in place are not fair on the elderly people who gave so much to their country, their communities and their families. We need to facilitate visits for those people, whether by testing the people going in to see them or by some other means. We must do more for those elderly people who need company and who often have certain things they will talk about only with family members and not with staff or any other persons. I am asking that more be done to allow more visits for those people.

Most nursing homes and hospitals - probably 99% of them - are well run and people are well looked after in them, but we have seen what happened to that poor man up the country. One such case was too much and we do not want any more. I have been requested to ask in this committee about who oversees the nutritional and protein value of the food that is being given to patients. We know that HIQA is responsible for cleanliness, safety and many other issues, but who is responsible for the quality of the food?

I thank all of the wonderful home helps, as we call them in Kerry, for the wonderful work they do for people who want to stay in their homes for as long as possible. We do not have funding to employ enough home helps to give adequate time to the elderly people who want to remain in their homes for as long as possible.