Ms Phil Ní Sheaghdha:

The bottom line is that where we have gone to the trouble of having a scientific, researched tool that tells us what the safe number we must have is and it has not been implemented, we ask this committee to support our call to introduce legislation that would make it a requirement to implement the measure that has been scientifically proven. Legislation was on Committee Stage in 2018, namely, the patient safety licensing legislation, and that needs to be enacted. HIQA needs to have the power to do more than just report on unsafe staffing levels. It needs to be able to do something about it. This legislation will give it that authority and enforcement power, and we need that.