Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

As Deputy Kathleen Lynch knows, the National Quality Standards: Residential Settings for People with Disability for adults was published by HIQA in May 2009. They are being considered and HIQA is working with the HSE on rolling out those standards. The Deputy is correct that there will be financial implications. That being said, the Government is also considering, following on from the Ryan report, the inclusion of further proposals on the protection of vulnerable adults with disability who are in institutional care. We are all anxious that the standards set by HIQA for all aspects of care and attention should be across the board for everyone regardless of whether they have a disability.

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