Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

First, I wish to acknowledge the upset of the family of the late Peter McKenna, whose death prompted the issues we discussed here yesterday. His brother and sister have spoken movingly about his final days. Any family would rightly be upset, as would I and any Member of the House. I did not acknowledge that fact yesterday. Clearly, the delay in finalising the report about his death and the delay in acting on it is not satisfactory for me or the Tánaiste. It demonstrates again that the system previously in place did not meet the needs of vulnerable patients. I accept there are 20,000 people in both private and public nursing homes but the point is that there must be standards that are adequate in every case. It is not a system people can stand over.

As the Tánaiste said yesterday, we will publish this report after it has gone through the necessary due process. It must go through this process to take account of the legal consideration that people mentioned in the report have a right to see the report. The Government is bringing forward the social services health inspectorate legislation which will deal with these issues.

With regard to whether these reports were brought to Government, I do not have blow by blow details. When there is a report by a health board or the Health Service Executive about a case, people think that every such report and examination is brought to the Government. It is not. As I understand it, in this case complaints were made or concerns were expressed — I do not know how it happened — in August 2003. The health board that was responsible for Leas Cross at the time initiated an examination in autumn 2003. Somewhere along it way it moved from being an examination of the Peter McKenna case to an examination of the inspectorate of the health board. I have never seen the report but I understand it is mainly about the Peter McKenna case but also discusses some issues regarding the health board.

I am subject to correction but my information is that from autumn 2003 to the first week of this month, which was after I answered questions in the House, that report was not completed. It was completed subsequent to me speaking in the House on 1 June. I believe it was finalised around 8 June.

With regard to standards for the future, the objective is to try to achieve proper standards for everybody. There are 20,000 people involved and, hopefully, the vast majority of them are extremely happy but in cases where it is otherwise, the social services inspectorate legislation will deal with it. We have invested enormous resources and staff to ensure these matters are dealt with properly. We will continue to do that to ensure we have the best standards in the future.

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