Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

——where people operate to the very highest levels of integrity. It is beneath the Taoiseach to make that comment. I am reading the report of the nursing homes inspections and registration working group which states clearly that there is no consistency and there is serious concern by one team about nursing homes and people being sent in there. If the Taoiseach was to show leadership in this matter, he would instruct the Minister for Health and Children to call together the committee dealing with health matters, Professor Drumm of the HSE, the leaders of these teams and Professor O'Neill to find out what is happening. The Minister for Finance will tomorrow produce his Estimates and he will have €600 million or €700 million on top of everything else for the capital programme. That is a long way from what is happening on the ground.

The Taoiseach rightly states that he wants to deal with standards across each county. He has correctly indicated that there are concerned citizens working in this area, and they cannot come forward because there is no whistleblower legislation. I have news for the Taoiseach, I have evidence from a person who will come forward. This is a case I have verified of a person in a nursing home being attended to by a professional nurse. My information states:

Now take the case of a lady with mental illness with discharging sores on her legs. She is also resident in a nursing home, and if I did not dress her legs every day in our centre she would come in every morning bare-legged, winter or summer, wearing slippers and the discharge running down her legs. After repeated calls to the nursing home, this lady came in one morning with nappy liners placed on open sores.

That is the standard the Taoiseach was talking about from some of these nursing homes. An inspection regime is needed to go in and sort this out. Where is the Minister for Health and Children this morning or the Ministers of State? Why are they not dealing with this?

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