Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)

I commend my colleagues, Deputies Sherlock and Wall, for tabling the motion. All of us in the House were outraged by the "RTÉ Investigates" programme, which showed the appalling levels of abuse and malpractice in older people's care settings. These are some of the most vulnerable people in our society. They depend on the help of others to meet their basic needs, as any one of us here might well need some day.

To see the conditions these older people were living in, and the routine violation of their human dignity, was shocking. It is incredibly upsetting to consider that any of our relatives living in long-term residential care could face the same indignities and abuse. These abuses are widespread and long term. We have heard the pleas of care champions and other relentless campaigners who continue to call for a statutory inquiry into the mistreatment and neglect in our nursing homes, which had particularly devastating effects during Covid.

The proliferation of private providers is at the heart of this issue. For me, the key takeaway from the "RTÉ Investigates" programme was that the State's failure to provide sufficient care for older people through home care and residential care has enabled the ever-increasing privatisation of the nursing home sector. We can clearly see that a model of profit maximisation above all else will never provide adequate and dignified care to those who need it.

In almost all cases, people who require care and personal support, including older people, would prefer the care to be delivered in the comfort of their own home and community. The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing and the ESRI have both reported that institutionalisation is being imposed on many older people and disabled people who should, and wish to instead, be enabled to live at home and be included in their community. This is their right under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

As a State, we have institutionalised people as a default social care response. From the Magdalen laundries, to psychiatric institutions, to direct provision, to congregated care settings in nursing homes, again and again these systems, profit making and the lack of State regulation involved have been shown to cause serious abuse.

Our current home care system is not fit for purpose either and this needs to change if we are to get out of this never-ending cycle of coercive and neglectful institutionalisation. Much of our home care system is privatised yet we have been speaking about statutory regulation of home care and a statutory entitlement to home care for decades. These promises were included in the programmes for Government in 2016 and in 2020. Now, the current programme for Government commits to designing a statutory home care scheme. After all this time how are we just getting to a design stage? We are now in the third successive Fine Gael Government that has committed to statute-based home care. Is it hoping for third time lucky?

We know the best outcomes for older people in terms of their health and well-being are when they can remain in their own homes and communities and receive the care they need there. Home and community-based care, and residential care that is embedded in and open to community participation, is best for all of us.

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