Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. We again thank and salute Emily, which is her pseudonymous name, and send our regards to her family and to all the families and all those affected by this. It strikes me that this is one of those issues where the House is of one mind. The clear objective is to keep people safe and to ensure we have the appropriate policies, practices, training and development in place. Equally, however, these must be underpinned in law. There must be a statutory basis upon which all of this is built.

My question to the Taoiseach is on the timing. I appreciate that work has been done and that there is more work to be done in respect of regulatory frameworks, but there is also an urgency around this. People who are currently in the care of the State and the HSE, along with their families and communities, need to know that the Government and all of us in political life are serious about this issue-----

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