Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the information she provided. The Ombudsman made very extensive recommendations in the report, as she outlined. However, I recently spoke again with Jennifer, who I am sure the Minister of State is aware of through previous representations. Jennifer is from north Clare, is in her mid-40s and has been in a nursing home for the past number of years. That is something that is against her wishes. She does not want to be there. As the Minister of State is aware, her rights under Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities are being ignored, as are the wishes of many others. Will the Minister of State please tell me what steps she will take to end this practice in line with commitments made in the programme for Government?

In trying to address this issue most appropriately, it is important to look at the reasons, as the Minister of State outlined, for these young people being in nursing homes. Professor Susan Coote of the University of Limerick and Ms Magdalen Rogers of the Neurological Alliance of Ireland, in their recent evidence before the Joint Committee on Health, alluded to the expansion of neurorehabilitation teams into every CHO as a measure that could serve to remove many younger people from nursing homes.

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