Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Clearly, if one wants to do something about standards and is waiting for 23 years, one does not need to carry out a consultation process. The Department is full of reports, suggestions, memoranda, lobby submissions, etc., all outlining what people want. It is a smokescreen to cover up monumental ineptitude, inexplicable and unforgivable delays, and a classical Department of Health and Children capacity to operate at a pace that would make a snail look like an Olympic runner. The fundamental problem is that the pace at which the Department can do things is apparently that with which the rest of us, including old people, must live. There is no shortage of resources or ideas on how to address the issue. However, the Department, with considerably reduced responsibility, is still incapable of producing urgently anything like legislation to deal with what should be for most of us one of the most pressing areas of care in the health service.