Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I move:

"That Dáil Éireann,

concerned at:

—the absence of an independent statutorily-based inspection regime for all nursing homes;

—the lack of information and transparency about standards applying to nursing homes;

and

—the failure to make current inspectors' reports easily accessible and available to the public, nursing home residents and their families;

calls on the Government to:

—immediately establish an independent nursing homes inspectorate for all nursing homes (public, private and voluntary);

—publish all inspection reports and make them available to residents of nursing homes and their families and to make them available and accessible to the public, free of charge, and on the Internet;

—fully resource the nursing homes inspectorate with appropriate professionals such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, geriatricians, other relevant health personnel and building inspectors;

—introduce uniform assessment criteria for all nursing homes; and

—immediately introduce a national strategy on elder abuse."

I would like to share time with Deputies O'Dowd, Pat Breen and Perry.

See this speech in context