Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

If the Minister of State or I were in the same bed as they and had a personal interest in the matter we would say exactly the same thing. The sooner he brings the report before the House the better, irrespective of whom it hurts. Personnel issues must be involved and vested interests must have expressed disagreement with Professor O'Neill. If that were not the case then it would be published. I believe the Minister of State has the best interests of the elderly at heart. Why would he not? There would be no marks for that as that is why we are here. The suspicion has now been created that the O'Neill report cannot or will not be made public because of a cover-up.

I expect that after tonight's debate the report will be put on the floor of the House for us to see its contents. We are all adults and will all find out what the learned professor had to say. He would not have been given the job unless somebody in the Department thought him the right person for the job. There is no point commissioning a professional report and deciding, for a reason best known to the Government, it cannot be published. That is what happened at Leas Cross at the very beginning.

I sincerely hope the report is made public, irrespective of whom it hurts, because then we will know who genuinely has at heart the welfare of people who are not able to speak for themselves. We are very lucky to have fine carers but if one person out of 15,000 is abused, for any reason, or denied their rights it is one person too many.

I will return to where I started. Until I see the day when a flying squad of appropriately trained men and women can walk into any nursing home, private or public, at any hour of the day or night I will know the Government does not take the situation seriously.

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