David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will start by offering my condolences to all the families who lost loved ones in nursing homes and, indeed, to people who lost loved ones over the course of the pandemic to Covid-19 outside nursing homes. This has been a very difficult time for everybody. I do not dispute the fact that all Members of the House, be they in the Government or in the Opposition, want to ensure there are the best levels of care for older people and that we do our best to ensure that whether somebody is in a public nursing home, a private nursing home or being cared for in his or her home those people have the highest levels of protection, the highest quality of care and that they are properly protected. I welcome the fact that we are going to have a statutory home care scheme and all the additional home care supports that are being put in place. That has to be one of the approaches we take into the future as well.

This is not about public versus private nursing homes. Some of my family members were in private nursing homes for a long time and received great quality care. I am indebted to the people who provide, and work in, those services for the care they gave my grandparents over many years. I am sure others have had the same experience. Nursing homes, especially private nursing homes, were left in a very difficult situation during the very difficult time period of the pandemic. I will not rehearse what I have said already, but we know there were failings. Those failings must be acknowledged. If we are going to learn and change, we must first acknowledge those failings. The public inquiry I am seeking would not be a type of witch-hunt. It is not about apportioning blame. It is about establishing facts. When one establishes the facts one is in a position to learn and to deliver the changes that are necessary, which I do not doubt that the two Ministers of State who spoke are committed to in terms of their respective portfolios.

Before the pandemic arrived, there were issues relating to the need for adult safeguarding legislation. There is a commitment in the programme for Government in this regard. I accept that many legislative measures had to be put on hold as the State and the Department of Health dealt with the difficult situation of the pandemic, but we have to introduce these reforms as quickly as possible. If the Government introduces those reforms, it will have the support of Sinn Féin and the Opposition to do that as quickly as possible.

There was reference to adult social care teams. It is a fact that there is a two-tier system in the State. If somebody is a resident in a public nursing home, he or she has access to these safeguarding social care teams. If a person is one of the 80% in a private nursing home, he or she does not. There is an issue, as I have said for some time, and it has to be remedied if there is an individual instance of neglect and, in some cases, abuse. Obviously, if there are elements of abuse that are criminal in nature, the Garda of course can be involved. As we have seen previously, however, there are cases of neglect. We have seen it with Áras Attracta, Leas Cross and elsewhere. There are many instances of neglect which do not fall under the criminal code but which need to be investigated properly, yet it seems that no authority has the power of entry into a nursing home to do so. That has to change.

There is no excuse. The former Senator, Colette Kelleher, produced a Bill on adult safeguarding. We just have to do it. We must get it done and ensure that legislation is delivered. We must empower HIQA to issue compliance notices and give it more teeth to do what it needs to do. I agree with previous speakers about the TAPS funding. It cannot be money that is provided forever, but it was premature to cut that funding at a time when nursing homes are still obliged to put infection control measures in place.

I will finish by commending the Irish Association of Social Workers and Care Champions. Any review or inquiry that is carried out has to include the families of those who lost loved ones, survivors in nursing homes and the staff who did Trojan work during that time. My heart goes out to all those staff who worked in horrific circumstances. We must hear their voices. We need a public inquiry. Let us establish the truth and the facts, and then let us deliver the changes which are necessary.

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