Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her response, which was very worthwhile. What is stark in respect of the reports of HIQA inspections which were published last week is that every one of them identified management failures as something that have to be dealt with. The reports are actually very complimentary of the staff, most of whom are agency staff. There is something badly wrong with the management in that facility. That really has to be dealt with.

The history the HSE has given of its interaction with families is inconsistent with my experience of this case and leaves an awful lot to be desired. The chief officer emailed Donegal's public representatives last week on foot of the HIQA report to say that the HSE had informed residents and their families of the inspection findings and the improvement actions and works that were being progressed as a result, yet I know that contact was made with one family the night before the HIQA report was published. That is all. They were just told that a report was going to be published in the morning. That is not acceptable. After all that has gone on, that is not acceptable. If I can get that from one phone call, there is obviously something going on. The chief officer is emailing the elected representative to tell them that this is happening but this is what I can get. There is something badly wrong with that situation.

The national independent review panel, NIRP, has come out of this fairly well so far. I hope it will stay that way but time will tell. How can we be sure that these types of failures have not happened in other facilities? How can we be sure there are not NIRP reports that nobody knows about sitting on a shelf in the HSE gathering dust? How many other Brandon-type reports are there that have not crossed our path?

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