Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

It is said a society should be judged on how it treats those who are most vulnerable. In this case, it is older people in our society. What we saw in the "RTÉ Investigates" programme was not care. It did not look like the dignity of older people had been looked after. We owe a debt of gratitude to "RTÉ Investigates" for shining a light on what happened in some settings and on the fear it is happening in others. What we saw was elder abuse. There is a natural fear in society it is happening in other locations. It is important to call out that a lot of the care settings are excellent, with excellent nurses, excellent care staff and excellent management but there are a few bad apples, which is obvious.

We have seen how Tusla has operated in the past for the betterment of protecting young children, in particular. The establishment of an independent adult-safeguarding authority is warranted. This would focus primarily on looking at the safeguarding of older people, in particular vulnerable adults. This type of authority is something that could help in protecting those most vulnerable in society; those older people in nursing homes. What I am trying to do, rather than regurgitate the problems and the anger and frustration we all feel as a collective, is try to come up with some solutions. That is one solution I am proposing.

Another solution is a national register of care concerns and complaints. This would be a publicly accessible, anonymous database of serious complaints about different care homes throughout the country. It would be administered by HIQA. In that regard, it would give families a little more insight into what is happening in various care homes and, indeed, the decision-making process around what care home they are going to send their loved one to if they do have to come to that reality. I am proposing two solutions. One is around an independent adult-safeguarding authority similar to Tusla and the second is a national register of care concerns and complaints.

The important thing here is transparency so families and those vulnerable people in care homes know what is happening and have the full knowledge of what is happening. I will liaise with the Minister of State after this to see if either of those suggestions could be progressed.

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