Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I thought this day would not come. Like many people, I watched the television programme "States of Fear" a couple of years ago. In last night's programme there was a chilling parallel to what could have developed. We are talking of different times and different institutions, but what we saw last night was indignities piled on people who were defenceless in their beds. That was shown across the country last night.

RTE's "Prime Time" last night was of some service to the nation. I hope that lessons will be learned from the programme. It shocked people of all ages. Not alone did it show the neglect, indifference and downright rudeness, but, as I understood it, the programme revealed that some patients were paying more than €1,000 per week. An astonishing greed was involved in the service being delivered, and many people saw that in the programme.

Greed would normally not be associated with those who run nursing homes. The professionals in that area were always proud that their job was to provide a service to the elderly, irrespective of people's ability to pay. As a representative from east Galway, the nursing homes I know of provide an outstanding service. Other Members have expressed similar views tonight and no doubt others will do so tomorrow. I assume nursing homes throughout the country provide an excellent service, but last night's programme posed the question as to how we can be sure. How can we be 100% sure good service is being delivered? I know of people whose loved ones are in the Dublin nursing home referred to in the programme. Until last night, I assumed that many of those people believed the home was all right.

It is against this background that the Minister of State must do much more. I do not doubt his bona fides in this case, but his predecessors certainly took their eyes off the ball. Was there a sufficient number of inspectors, whether from the former health boards or from the HSE? Were they present to call at least twice annually on all 500 nursing homes? I understand that less than one third of the necessary manpower was available. The Minister of State may say differently tomorrow night, but that is my understanding. People thought they would be safe and that their best interests were being looked after, thinking that as far as the HSE was concerned, the inspectors were their great protectors, but it did not seem like that on last night's television programme.

I do not know, any more than does the Minister of State, if there is another nursing home with the same low standards as the one featured in the television programme. Are there ten, 15, 20 or 50 such nursing homes? Nothing the Minister of State said tonight gives me any reason to believe we are likely to know that in the next month, six months or couple of years.

Naturally, the Minister of State must take fire brigade action, and I thank him for doing so. I assume a brake will be applied and that what is going on in that particular nursing home will change, but what mechanisms will the Minister of State put in place immediately? It is no good talking of action which will be taken in two or three years' time. Much damage could be done if there are more rogue nursing homes such as the one shown up last night. I hope there are not many more like that, but until the Minister of State can enter the House and make freely available the exact information collected on every visit to all nursing homes, nobody can assure us there are not several more such nursing homes.

I hope we arrive at a stage where we have a mobile, fast and transparent inspectorate which will be single-minded with regard to visits to nursing homes, namely, that its members will visit the homes on behalf of the nursing home patients and nobody else. I look forward to the day I hear the Minister of State talk about that in this House.

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