Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Does this not make it a duplicate system? The Mental Health Commission is supposed to be doing its job in relation to these facilities, but when Covid came we found an awful lot of the mental health facilities were not at all up to scratch. There was one example where there were not even changing facilities for staff coming on duty, which would be a basic requirement in any medical facility. Yet this facility was under the Mental Health Commission. Therefore, there will be some duplication in that we are giving more power to the inspectorate around private nursing homes and public nursing homes or homes that are under the HSE's jurisdiction but we are excluding facilities that are extremely important for the residents in them. It was proved during Covid that there were huge deficiencies in that area. The Mental Health Commission is now issuing various warnings to facilities right across the country. Would we be better off having one really well structured inspectorate system, whether for mental health facilities or nursing homes, both public and private?