Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Reilly for bringing this important issue to the attention of the House. It addresses two issues, the integrity of the Office of the Ombudsman and the right of vulnerable people and their families to use the facility of this office in the belief that they will secure a fair determination. We have witnessed a concerted effort by the Government, the HSE and the Department of Health and Children to undermine the Ombudsman. If this was a one-off event, we would say we have to do something about this but this is a case of déjÀ vu in the context of the behaviour of the Government towards the Ombudsman. Recently, I proposed, as Fine Gael agriculture spokesperson, that the lost at sea scheme report by the Ombudsman be accepted by the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Unfortunately, the Government sought to kill it and to bury it once and for all even though the facts are quite clear.

The Ombudsman has defended her position in so far as she was asked to ascertain the difficulties that families had in getting long-term residential care for family members; to determine the stress that caused; to outline and highlight the tardiness in the way they were deal with by the Government; and to see if there is any onus on the Department or the HSE to recognise their level of governance was inadequate. Unfortunately, we have had a concerted attempt to undermine the Ombudsman, who forwarded a rebuttal document to us this evening. It is lengthy and it was impossible to digest it before the debate.

However, her original report has come at an inconvenient time for the Department and the HSE. There is a plan, which is not stated anywhere in policy, to take care of the elderly out of the public sector. There is a determined effort to wind down the service using HIQA to starve excellent nursing homes all over the country of the resources they need to bring their facilities up to standard. The authority is being used as the cannonball to close them down. I witnessed a belt and braces job in this regard in Wicklow town in my constituency. After years of working in consultation and co-operation with local people, who had raised hundreds of thousands of euro to support the local nursing home, a policy initiative was taken to close it. A recently published HIQA report and a fire safety report confirmed there was no rationale behind this decision. There was no communication with the residents or their families. The final patient was removed last week following considerable distress, given the nearest facility is 10 km from the town.

We were informed the fair deal scheme would be a wonderful panacea for everybody but it does not compare like with like. Issues have not been addressed and, for example, Deputy O'Dowd outlined hidden charges. While many of the nursing homes are good, everything is up for grabs and they provide facilities on a pay per use basis. No effort was made to refine and reform public service provision, which could provide every bit as good a service, if it was addressed.

At the end of the day, this comes down to the public's belief that the Ombudsman's office can be used to determine whether the State has been fair regarding issues they have. If it is to be rejected because it is inconvenient, we must question the point of having an Ombudsman at all.

See this speech in context