Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a very important debate. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. I support much of what she says and does, particularly regarding the Brandon report which will be discussed by the committee tomorrow. We need more change. We are not getting enough of it. We need more Ministers like the Minister of State in the Government, and I laud her for what she is doing. That is a fact.

It is also a fact that from 2016 to 2020 almost 16,000 people aged over 65 years were abused, and it was reported to the HSE. The numbers are appalling, disgraceful and shameful. I challenge anybody to deny the truth of what I am going to say. If they were children who had been abused, there would be tribunals and prosecutions. The Minister would leave office and there would be absolute war about it. What we do not have in this country is enough concern about things that concern the Minister of State, me and other Members of the House. We need legislative change and we need Ministers with guts who will act on the truth of a statement that I gave to the Minister for Health not so long ago. I told him that one of two medical people told me that what happened in a nursing home in Dundalk was something that he never believed could happen, not only in Ireland but in this century. What has happened? I have heard nothing from the Minister for Health since. What is happening with the inquiry into the deaths of those who died in places such as Dealgan House Nursing Home in Drumcar? What about the Care Champions standing up for people in nursing homes where appalling care and treatment has been given to those people? What about Kilbrew Nursing Home where an elderly man was found with an infected wound on his face? It was infected with maggots because it had not been cleaned. What did the HSE and HIQA do? They said the nursing home could continue to run for another year or so.

These issues are not acceptable; they are not good enough. I accept this legislation is about protecting people, and I support that. It is about giving them rights, but what about when their rights are taken away from them and the Minister will not act on it? This Government has refused to look at the deaths in nursing homes that are of serious concern for many people in our community. These families need closure and they are not getting it.

What is happening in the HSE? A whistleblower made an allegation in 2020 about the care of patients in St. Mary's Hospital, Phoenix Park. I had to table a parliamentary question about it. The answer from the interim national director is as follows:

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has been requested to reply directly to you in the context of the above parliamentary question, which you submitted to the Minister for response.

The investigation team for this protected disclosure have now submitted a draft report to me as the commissioner of the investigation. The draft report is sizable and complex and I am now taking due time to consider it before accepting it as finalised. ... I will seek to balance the need for expediency and assurance as to the quality of the report.

What the hell is going on? This is a report commissioned by the HSE. It remains unpublished. It appears to me, and I hope I can be contradicted on this, to be challenged by the HSE in respect of the veracity of it, the quality of it and the people who suffered as a result of what the whistleblower thought was going on there.

There is a massive need for change. The campaign is led by many good people in our society. I praise Patricia Rickard Clarke for her eminent clarity in her work and commitment to bring about change, and to force us in this House to ensure that this legislation passes but is also made stronger. The responsibility is broader. It is much broader than this legislation ensures. What is going on in the care of older people is shameful. It is shameful that we do not hold them in same esteem in this country.

I am an older person but I do not have any particular evidence of discrimination against me, apart from the fact that a lot of people do not vote for me, although some people do. However, there is ageism in our society and I believe there is ageism in the Department of Health. I believe it is ageism that is saying "No" to an inquiry into these deaths, saying "No" to an inquiry into Dealgan House Nursing Home, saying "No" to the Care Champions and now saying "No" to publishing this report, which is of great seriousness and concern for all of us. The Minister of State stuck her neck out on the Brandon report. She made statements that are true, and she must be supported on this. I return to my point: where are the champions in this House? Why do I have to speak like this at this time of the day? A Minister for Health should be at the front of this, should be fighting for change and should be vindicating the rights of people. Clearly, that is not now going to happen. However, I hope my contribution today will prompt a response from the Minister for Health to this issue.

Why do we need this change? We need it because people are living longer and they need greater care. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Butler, and I discussed last week the care of people in their homes, the integrity of keeping people in their homes where they have lived all their lives and supporting them. I acknowledge the work she is doing on behalf of older people in terms of bringing forward new supports and extra additional home care hours to look after those vulnerable people. However, we are still not doing enough. My office is in contact with the HSE every day trying to get care for people who cannot get it.

It is not that the money is not there; it is that the work carers do is not valued or paid enough. It should be a rewarding career. I have no problem with privatisation of lots of things, but this sector is being privatised. I know from my experience in public life that for many years the home care assistant, the healthcare employee and the HSE employee, who had a lifetime of dedication to his or her work, would always be available and willing to help. That system changed and is now gone. In many cases older people and people with disabilities are left on their own to suffer in silence and in pain, while we Deputies bang our heads against the wall of the system to try to get carers into these settings.

We need root-and-branch reform for the credibility of our society. We should judge our society by how we treat the young and the old, as we come into this world and as we leave it. As we come into the world, we have tremendously improved health services; as we get older, however, the services are not good enough and are not acceptable. We need change. I stand for change. I will not put up with this any longer because I am fed up of raising it with people and of talking about Dealgan House and what will happen there. Nothing is happening and that is not acceptable. There is clear evidence that an inquiry into it is needed. It is crystal clear to me. Let us have that inquiry.

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