Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

From listening to the Minister of State's response, one would think the system had a mechanism in place for dealing with this. Unfortunately, in my experience, that is not the case. I would like the Minister of State to explain where we are with the legislation and the statutory improvements which I believe are necessary.

I have had two very serious cases brought to my attention recently. One involved a woman who was released from hospital with a terminal condition, whereby some facilities were provided by a HSE-funded service but others were a package she got from an organisation but which she paid for herself privately, and which was outside the scope of monitoring as a result. The woman had paid, and paid handsomely, to have somebody residing in her home at night who would be awake if she needed them. Sadly, her experience was that, in many instances, she was left calling for that home care worker but getting no response and being left in soiled bedclothes overnight, and so on. Everywhere that complaint was taken, nothing was done about it. It seems those services that are not funded by the HSE are outside the remit of regulation. I believe it is an area that needs particularly close attention.

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