Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Members of the Oireachtas are apparently more capable of understanding the nuances of sub judice than are members of the Cabinet, despite the high powered advice given to the latter.

I second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by Senator Brian Hayes. This issue is not just about history. The Health Service Executive has now insisted that there be no further admissions to a number of nursing homes because of HSE concerns about standards in those nursing homes but it will not tell us the number involved or their location, nor will it identify them to the families concerned. In spite of all the glowing words, promises and acts of contrition etc., which never got as far as a mea culpa — it was a collective culpa in that no individual was ever responsible for anything in the health service — the HSE has admitted some nursing homes are causing concern because of the standard of care but it will not identify them or the number involved. For anybody who has an elderly parent or other relative in a private nursing home, that ought to be a matter of great concern but the response of the HSE is to leave everybody worried. That shows a lack of good will, which is the reason we need an urgent debate on the report.

There is a separate issue on which I believe an urgent Government response is needed. Five hundred members of Amicus are on strike today because of the disgraceful decision of Bank of Ireland to act in breach of every principle of industrial relations on which partnership is based. As one who believes in a true partnership I am getting fed up of the annual ritual of some major employer here finding a loophole through which they can escape their commitments. Effectively, Bank of Ireland is preserving the joys of a defined benefit pension for its senior, important people and depriving its new recruits of the same guaranteed secure pension. If an organisation as successful as Bank of Ireland gets away with ignoring the Labour Court and proper procedures and condemning its employees to a future of insecurity in their old age, we can forget about partnership because that sort of activity effectively amounts to class warfare between those who are rich, powerful and in control of capital in this country and those whom they employ.