David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support those sentiments. I accept that the offer the Minister made was made in good faith, but he should accept that Dr. Scally's report was published a long time ago. The most recent report was a progress report. It was an implementation report so it was a scorecard essentially on what was done and what was not done. There was sufficient time for the Government to have dealt with this issue. It was something that the Joint Committee on Health spent a lot of time on during pre-legislative scrutiny. There are many complicated amendments that the Minister was able to bring forward, including those on nursing homes, so this ended up being a catch-all Bill. Ultimately, it is almost a miscellaneous provisions Bill. The Minister said earlier that this may be the way to do legislation. I am not quite sure that it is. Some of the issues could have been dealt with separately. They should have been dealt with previously. Notwithstanding that, they are obviously dealt with in the Bill.

On this particular issue, while the Minister says there is work being done - and while I accept that and acknowledge the offer that was made for hearings - sometimes that can seem to be a case of kicking the can down the road. The Minister has provided some insight as to what has been done. I may be wrong, but I imagine that it would be a long time before we see the legislation to which he referred come before the Houses. Yet Dr. Scally's report, as the Minister knows, is many years old and is one of the central planks in the context of what we are doing. I strongly endorse what has been said. I will be supporting the amendment.

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