Mary White (Fianna Fail)

The Minister of State is taking the butt of the abuse, but it is important that he does not take the blame for this issue. I am sorry for him because he is doing his best with a hot issue.

In my document, A New Approach to Ageing and Ageism, a copy of which everyone has received, I designated abuse of the elderly under the heading of crime against older people. It states: "The National Council on Ageing and Older People report that between 12,000 and 20,000 older people may be suffering from some form of abuse at any given time." These figures are frightening.

Abuse of the elderly is a serious issue that was not revealed until the Leas Cross incident. My document states:

Elder abuse is a serious issue in Ireland that has not received the same priority as in other countries. The Elder Abuse Response Helpline, set up to help victims of abuse in the UK, received so many calls from Ireland that it now provides a special number — 1800 940 010 — for callers from Ireland.

In October, I attended a conference in Croke Park at which Dr. Maurice Manning, the president of the Irish Human Rights Commission, was the guest speaker. He stated: "Some of the worst abuses of human rights in Ireland can be found in the treatment of older people in long-stay care." Regarding Dr. Manning's speech, the document Ageing Matters in Ireland states:

Older people were identified by the commission when it was established in 2001 as one of the most vulnerable groups in Irish society, he told the conference on the rights and entitlements of older people at Croke Park on 2 October. As a result, the very first piece of research commissioned by the commission was a study of older people in long-stay care, carried out by barrister Ita Mangan.

I am sure that the Minister of State is familiar with the study. Dr. Manning was further quoted as stating:

It was a fine and frightening piece of work which made most of the points which were subsequently effectively and dramatically made in the "Prime Time" programme on Leas Cross. For us, Ita Mangan's report revealed a series of serious human rights breaches. We published the report. Not surprisingly, there was little media reaction and the response from the Department of Health was, I'm sorry to say, perfunctory and dismissive.

He also stated:

It gave us no pleasure when the Leas Cross programme dominated public interest to point out that we had warned the Department and the public much earlier of the defects in current practice and of what needed to be done.

The issue always existed, but we did not know about it until it was revealed on "Prime Time". We could not believe how people were being treated. Regarding systems failure, I do not know how human beings could behave like savages by treating older people in that way.

Senator Browne stated that a comparative study of the private and public residential homes has not been conducted, but a report on the matter was published several months ago. The report, with which the Minister of State's official is probably familiar, referred to better care in public nursing homes. The profit motive has gone wild in private residential homes with the result that everyone is afraid. Senator O'Toole stated that he would not like to see his parents in such a home, but I would not like even to see myself in one. I would shoot myself now.