Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes. I am just making the point that we do not have any disagreement here. In times gone by, the State always denied these kinds of issues. This has happened. We know it has happened. The question is what is the best, right, correct and most effective thing to do now. I recall meeting Christy Lynch a number of years ago. I found him to be quite an extraordinary person. He has the capacity to do a really effective job here. The HSE has immediately responded by getting him to carry out an investigation. I understand three investigations are going on. The first thing we have to do is let that continue. An action team from abroad is working on this at the moment. The results of the Áras Attracta investigation and analysis will be applied elsewhere. The legislation referred to by the Deputy will be debated on Committee Stage here early in the next session. The other point is that HIQA does not investigate individual complaints. When individual complaints are received, they are always part of the overall investigation into facility X or Y that takes place. The HSE has written to the chief executive of each individual service provider. They are all being called together on Tuesday. They have already been warned about this. It is something that is intolerable. Can I give a guarantee to the House here today that this has not happened in some other facility around the country? I do not know. Am I supposed to know? I suppose it could be said that I am. We have to put in place a system whereby the Minister of State with responsibility and the HSE have a continuous stream of up-to-date information about what is happening.

I was struck by what Deputy Ó Caoláin said last night. These people are voiceless. They are completely vulnerable. We saw it on our television screens. The question is what we will do about it. There are three investigations going on. It is possible that criminal charges will be levied here. That does not solve problems for the future. The lessons learned from Áras Attracta will apply to the rest of the system. The legislation will be dealt with on Committee Stage early in the new year. The action team led by an international expert in challenging behaviour is already doing its work. The chief executive of KARE, Christy Lynch, who has complete independence, is already drafting his report. I am not ruling out the question that Deputy Martin asked. It is important to let these investigations conclude so we can find out what is there and what further needs to be done. I do not rule it out, but we need to conclude what is under way at the moment in terms of these investigations so we can see what happens. We can then put that in the system so this should not happen anywhere else. I know this is a cause of great concern for the families of people in other facilities. I am sure the health care workers in the other units in Áras Attracta feel very damaged when they consider that this happened in the complex or campus in which they work.

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