Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

This is a difficult point for many on this side of the House because the Tánaiste is doing nothing to protect patients in nursing homes. On this date last year, during Leaders' Questions, the Taoiseach stated: "The legislation will not be ready before the summer but will be introduced in the autumn". That was to be the autumn of 2005, not 2006.

Does legislation prevent elderly patients being tied to chairs or beds? Will it stop staff shouting at patients? Would it have kept alive Peter McKenna and many other elderly patients in similar circumstances? That is a question we and the Tánaiste should ask.

The Tánaiste has a terrible record with regard to legislation. She has a sense that the public does not understand legislation and, therefore, she does not have to care about what it means, which is an important point. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has shown the public how important legislation is in the past week. The Tánaiste should give a much clearer answer as to why she has failed to deliver this legislation in the past 12 months.

We are in the House as legislators, which is our official title. However, we have failed to deliver the most basic legislation to protect vulnerable elderly people in nursing homes. It has been discussed and the Government included it in its election manifesto in 2001, otherwise known as the health strategy. It included it in its programme for Government when the Government was re-elected, promising to protect patients. When the Leas Cross scandal broke last year, the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach said all the right things when in front of the television cameras but in the past 12 months they failed miserably to deliver the type of legislation the House is supposed to deliver to protect elderly people.

It is not good enough to tell the House the social services inspectorate will be part of the health information and quality authority, when or if the authority sees the light of day during this Administration. The issue of the health information and quality authority Bill is currently out for public consultation. It may be back by September but it is also possible it will not see the light of day. We are not moving quickly enough in this regard.

In the past 12 months we have come back to the House with emergency legislation on at least two if not three occasions, and we will do so again tomorrow. It is a damning indictment that we are officially described as legislators yet this is the sort of carry-on we must put up with. The two-line response of the Tánaiste to my question is not good enough. I would prefer to know why she and the Department failed to introduce the Bill in the past year. What excuses are they giving each other? They need to fully comprehend the importance of this legislation and what it means. It is just another Bill lying around the Department for God knows how long, just as reports which the Tánaiste is afraid to publish are lying around. Where is the O'Neill report, which we have heard nothing about? We have Question Time to get proper answers.

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