Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

It is hard to believe we are back here again. It is 20 years since the Leas Cross case, which led to a commission of investigation and the establishment of HIQA. Like many of my colleagues, I believe HIQA needs to be given some of the powers it has requested. As Deputy O'Reilly said, we need some facility for unannounced visits of a particular type. We cannot be utterly reliant on "Prime Time" to safeguard our older people. We have huge levels of failings. It is crazy to think that 200 complaints were made about a particular nursing home and nothing was done about it. Everyone has said we have an issue with privatisation, accepting that there are good private and public nursing homes. We need to make sure all of them are good. The Government has walked away from the public system. In everything this Government touches, there is an overreliance on the private sector. In the nursing home sector, 81% of homes are private and 19% are public. This is not good enough and it means the likes of Emeis Ireland are a major part of home care. Without safeguards, there are huge questions to answer.

Any time I talk about nursing homes I find it difficult not to deal with Dealgan House and the 22 families who lost loved ones in the early period of 2020 during Covid. They, like Care Champions and many other advocates, are not impressed by the Government's approach to that. I do not even know what the term is because it is hardly an inquiry. It is a review of the period of Covid-19. We need some sort of compellability. We have heard the Taoiseach and many others speak about what they do not want to see in relation to commissions of inquiry or commissions of investigation. That is fine but it is not fine to be a commentator. The Government has the power to decide what type of inquiry can be initiated, with whatever checks and balances are required. That is what we need.

We really have to get real about delivering a home first policy to facilitate those in their own home to be helped by their families. This will require a statutory support scheme that is up to scratch. We need to see the adult safeguarding legislation delivered. This has been necessary for a long time and has been spoken about for far too long in this House. We need to make sure all those necessary pieces are put in place.

When we are talking about residential care-----

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