Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy O'Dowd for his question. Obviously, my first thoughts are with the family of "Emily" and with Emily herself, who is since deceased. I think of the upset and devastation of the families involved in this absolutely awful trauma and the circulation of the report this week is even more traumatic for them. I am very conscious of all of the issues that have been identified in these reviews which are causing huge distress. There are HSE adult safeguarding policies in place based on zero tolerance and there are ongoing programmes of awareness.

To get to the nub of the Deputy's question, this is a priority for me. We are working on legislation at the moment and I will bring it before the Dáil as soon as it is ready. However, regardless of what legislation is in place, the fact that nine other women were not listened to and not responded to appropriately at the time shows that there must be a step change in how the voice and choice of older people is heard.

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