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

While I appreciate there is a heavy workload, the problem is the Government is more than halfway through its term. Sadly, the woman I spoke about died, and her family are left with the legacy of feeling she suffered an indignity in her last weeks and months at home. They went everywhere, already coping with their loss, to try to get an explanation as to why the service they paid for so expensively did not allow that woman to remain at home in dignity.

Only last night, I heard of another couple who have now decided to move in to a nursing home. The decider was that the man woke up last night to see a rat at the end of his bed. This is an elderly couple who have home care providers coming in to mind them.

A rat does not just appear from nowhere. The fact this was allowed to happen in a home means we urgently need regulation in this area for basic human dignity, never mind the amount of money being spent on it.

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