Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is about the transformation that is taking place in nursing homes in Ireland. We have quite a few and most of them are good. Unfortunately, however, as we discovered from the excellent RTE programme, some of them are not so good, in terms of regulations, the standard of care and so forth. This has received coverage both outside and inside this House.

All Members, as legislators and people who care about these issues, want the best possible standards. We certainly want regulation because lack of regulation led to some of the problems we have discussed here in the past. The body that represents the nursing homes in Ireland, Nursing Homes Ireland, NHI, has made a very simple request, and I have no difficulty with it in principle. I support the efforts the Department and the Minister and Ministers of State have made through their work with the HSE and the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, to introduce regulations. I strongly support that. However, Nursing Homes Ireland has said that the timeframe is rather limited for some of the changes in these homes, especially the physical changes, and it is asking for a forum where all interested parties can discuss these matters. That is the request.

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