Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. It is great to have them here. This is a really important report. A lot of hard work went into it for which I thank the witnesses. It made for difficult reading. It is upsetting and is not a happy picture. The majority provide a good standard of care. For me, "good" is not enough. We should set our standards a bit higher than good. It reminds me of how my mother would say "grand" when things were just about okay. Good is not enough. The report also highlighted that levels of compliance and governance were reducing. Can the witnesses give us examples of lack of compliance and lack of governance and how that translated into an unsatisfactory level of care?

How are HIQA inspections aligned with the UNCRPD? Will the findings in this report change how HIQA carries out its inspections in the future? It is great to see that HIQA is really interested in the voice of the residents. This committee really tries to uphold the motto of nothing about us without us. I always fear that when authorities come, people do not have trust in them. How do inspectors relay to residents that this is non-judgmental, that whatever residents say to inspectors will be safe, that this is a safe space and that when inspectors translate that back to service providers, residents will not be punished, feedback will be listened to and things will change?

The report notes that residents felt that they were not listened to and their rights were often not uphold. How does HIQA relay that to service providers? What guidelines are given? How best do we effect change in those service providers for the residents? The report mentioned regulatory changes. What regulatory actions are taken to uphold the UNCRPD?