Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)

I thank the Minister. There are four clear systemic issues within HIQA at the moment, notwithstanding that it is a much-trusted institution in the public's mind. That confidence has been dented, however. Clear legislative change and clarity are needed in four areas. The first issue is in regard to the licensing. I welcome what the Minister is saying about the licensing of corporate institutions and their intervention into the market. The second issue is the inspection regime. There is a large degree of ambiguity as to the point in which HIQA can intervene on the basis of an individual complaint or its own inspections. The third issue is enforcement. It is crazy we are having this debate about whether it can fine. While HIQA has powers to go to the District Court, it has never used them. The final issue concerns liability. There is a glaring gap in that regard. Liability on the part of directors does not appear to be pursuable. While staff are going to be pursued for wrongdoing, and rightly so, there must also be liability on the part of the directors.

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