Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)

I could not watch the level of abuse in the "RTÉ Investigates" documentary. I could not stomach the way elderly people were treated and abused. What we saw was a complete disregard for human life and human rights and it was very focused on economic profits in this regard. Profit does seem to have been the motivating factor in some of the abuses. This is clearly concerning, particularly in light of the fact that Government has moved away from public nursing homes to a place where this care is primarily in the hands of the private sector. The Minister of State has a major job of work to ensure that HIQA has teeth, that there are very clear regulations and consequences when actions such as these take place. Over recent weeks, we in Aontú have opposed the Order of Business because we wanted to discuss this very important issue. We very much welcome the debate. I also welcome the Minister of State's contribution and his work in this regard. I want to see HIQA having teeth to address this. It is a fundamentally important way forward.

I also raise another issue. We saw during Covid, for example, the way nursing homes were abandoned. The entire sector was abandoned. We saw how elderly people were shipped out from hospitals by the National Treatment Purchase Fund into nursing homes. It caused a huge spread of Covid. We also saw how supplies, including PPE and oxygen that were meant to go to nursing homes, were actually intercepted by the HSE. These were meant to go to the people who were most vulnerable due to Covid and the HSE intercepted them and took those supplies to hospitals. That is a scandal that the Minister of State needs to investigate. We need that Covid inquiry. We need that Covid review to investigate this. By the way, "intercepted" is not my word; it is the word of the then Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, who stated that the HSE intercepted those supplies. One third of all Covid deaths happened in nursing homes. I commend the advocacy group Care Champions, which has emerged from these horrors to see justice and rights for those in the care system. It is a wonderful advocacy group and I hope the Minister of State will work with is representatives on this journey to ensure elderly people are treated with the dignity and respect they so desperately need.

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