Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

One of the darkest days this country experienced was 30 May 2005, when the "Prime Time Investigates" programme exposed the shocking conditions in Leas Cross nursing home. Following that programme, the Taoiseach on 31 May promised in the Dáil to establish an independent inspectorate for all nursing homes, the legislation for which would be published later that year. That promise was repeated by him on 1 June 2005 and reiterated by the Tánaiste on 20 July. We now see from the Government programme published by the Chief Whip that the promises by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have not been met. There is no date for the production of legislation on an independent inspectorate.

We should not be too surprised at this Government's failure to deliver. The health strategy published in 2001, the Sustaining Progress agreement and the programme for Government in June 2002 all promised an independent inspectorate for nursing homes. All these promises were broken. The Government has reneged upon these specific commitments, which refer to the most frail and vulnerable among our citizens. The Tánaiste was well able to bring in emergency legislation to claim back retrospective payments from money taken from people in long-stay geriatric homes. The issue of the standards in our nursing homes has not been addressed with the same sense of urgency by this Government.

Can the Taoiseach provide a reasonable explanation for why he stood up here on two occasions to promise this legislation and why the Tánaiste also made a promise if it has not been delivered? Can he tell us why he was in a position to say last May, June and July that this was a priority for legislation, given that it does not now appear in any of the Government's own programmes?

The Taoiseach should be aware — I am sure he is — that this delay has caused massive concern among the owners of nursing homes in which the standards of care and attention are as they should be. However, because of the Government's failure to implement and draft legislation for an independent inspectorate, everybody is being dragged down by those who do not even measure up to minimum standards. Can he explain why the Government has failed on this fundamental issue in respect of the elderly, the frail and, in many cases, the neglected and why it failed to deliver on this legislation?

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