Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

This has been an important and crucial debate in which not just Members of the House have been involved, but the whole country. I have not met anyone in recent days, either inside or outside the House, who is not talking about what went on in that nursing home. Great credit is due to the "Prime Time" programme. We need to expose these issues. We also need more transparency and openness in public life.

The Freedom of Information Act must be reformed to make it easier to obtain information, not more difficult to do so. If one tries to get a nursing home report today and it is refused, one must then submit an appeal with €75. This is not good enough. If one wants to appeal to the Information Commissioner, one must pay approximately €200. The Government is trying to prevent information on nursing homes being made available. It has also done away with democracy. There is no longer any democracy in the health service. For all their faults, under the health board system, one could raise issues with the line manager responsible for nursing homes. One cannot do so now. If one makes a phone call, it will not be returned. If one puts down a parliamentary question, one will have to wait three months for a reply, and one might not even receive a proper reply.

We need good legislation to weed out bad operators, especially since elderly patients have a high risk of suffering from an injury or abuse. Good nursing homes are paying the price for bad Government. As my colleagues on all sides of the House said, many caring and dedicated nursing home operators are tainted with the same brush as bad operators because of a lack of legislation. Everyone agrees that the independent inspectorate is vital for the nursing home sector. We have always said so. Five years ago, the Minister said in the Seanad that such an inspectorate would be set up. Over the past five years, whenever we brought the nursing home issue to the attention of the Government, we were told that something would be done, but it did not do anything. However, something will have to be done now.

The Minister of State, Deputy Callely, is in an exceptional situation. He received a letter from someone who, in the words of the Beaumont specialist, suffered from the worst case of pressure sores he ever saw in his life. He said in a letter three years later that he could still recall vividly how bad the sores were. The Minister of State did his job as a TD but he did not do his job as a Minister of State. He did not introduce legislation to change the way nursing homes operate. That is the charge against the Minister of State, which he failed to answer. He ought to resign.

The Government failed to accept responsibility for this problem. Members on the opposite benches have known about this problem for at least five years and they did nothing about it. It rests there. The Government has refused to support the Fine Gael motion, in which there is nothing objectionable. We want an independent inspectorate and an independent commission to examine elder abuse, and the Government has refused to accede to this. The Government will vote against the motion. The people will pass judgment on the Government. One of the biggest judgments they will make is in the area of the health services and the Government's failure to deliver. It is an inescapable fact that the Government knew about the issue but it refused to deal with it.

I have three questions for the Minister for Health and Children. Will she publish a recent eastern health area report in respect of nursing homes? Did any group of doctors recently recommend to the High Court that the Leas Cross nursing home in Swords was suitable for patients? Did the Minister carry out any assessment of nursing homes before patients are transferred there arising from the accident and emergency package?

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