Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

The contributions of other speakers have been quite informative. The chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, Deputy Moloney, stated that many nursing homes in his constituency left much to be desired. This is a very interesting point. It is extremely difficult to close down substandard nursing homes although one Deputy stated that some of these nursing homes have been closed down. Even though we criticise the lack of a legislatively based social services inspectorate for nursing homes, when these homes are inspected and problems are uncovered, it is extremely difficult to do anything about it. This has a knock-on effect on nursing homes which provide an excellent service and show genuine concern for their patients. If too many rogues are allowed to operate within this business and feel they can operate with impunity, it will affect people working in this sector who do their best for patients.

A member of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and the Public Service stated that people could take out private insurance to pay for their nursing home care in the future. This is surprising given that the Government failed to publish a policy on care of the elderly, a measure which was promised in 2001 but which we are now told is only at the level of a Cabinet working group. This type of slow progress does not do anyone justice, particularly those who expect this Government to make decisions on the matter. There are more than enough reports for the Government to read, some going back as far as 2003.

The chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business, Deputy Cassidy, spoke in a more measured fashion and had some words of praise for what members of the Opposition are attempting to do this evening. This praise was unexpected but we are grateful for it. Unfortunately, we have a very adversarial form of politics here. The consensus form of politics, where we could possibly work together, is not used. I mean no disrespect to the Government but our adversarial system leaves the Opposition with no alternative but to push the Government to do something for the people whom we represent. We cannot work together because there is no forum for us to do so. This is why we must constantly barrack the Government to do some work.

See this speech in context