Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy would not expect me to comment on or refer to any of the individual inspections to which he has pointed, but I repeat the comment and observation on how the particular standards play out in particular nursing homes. I take the Deputy's point, that it may not always be immediately clear to us if we walk into a nursing home that the standards are wholly appropriate when we view a particular human situation, but I think we can be sure and reassured that the standards did not come from nowhere, that the standards were put together on a rational basis, that they make sense, that people were consulted on them and that nothing is set in stone. I have taken careful note of what the Deputy said. I am sure there is a mechanism to provide for a review - I do not have it immediately to hand - but I am sure that a review is contemplated in all of these kinds of standards. It may well be that in the future the kinds of insights that the Deputy has raised could be taken into account.

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