Mary Henry (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I also welcome the Bill. We were all dismayed by the report written by Professor Des O'Neill on the conditions in certain private nursing home. It became clear that we needed far more robust standards for the inspection of institutions which provide cared for people, including children, who are elderly, ill or vulnerable. This is a welcome and rapid response to the problems that were disclosed.

The Bill is wide-ranging. The provision for the scope of premises to be reviewed and certified by the inspector and his or her staff is enormous. It will take a great deal of work, even with inspections only every three years, to ensure they are all properly covered. The bill for such inspections will be an expensive one for the Minister for Finance.

I did not agree with Senator Glynn when he said it is our role only to introduce legislation and following that we have no responsibility. I was much more taken by what Senator Mansergh said on the Order of Business this morning when we discussed the issue of the State's responsibility to children in our national schools and the fact that the State, the Government and the Department have no responsibility for children who might be abused in our national schools. Senator Mansergh pointed out that legal and moral responsibility are different. I would have thought we all have a huge responsibility to ensure that this Bill is implemented and the recommendations in it are enforced.

It is easy to introduce legislation and we are terrific at writing reports but subsequently there is frequently very little action. I would like to be assured that plenty of money will be available to the inspector and to his or her staff to ensure that what we wish to achieve with the enactment of this legislation will be implemented. That is extremely important. Most people in these institutions are vulnerable. Some have relations who visit them frequently. However, Senator Glynn has often pointed out that some patients in psychiatric institutions, a service in which he had a career before he became a Member of the Seanad, have visitors very infrequently. Effectively, many of them are on their own and rely on the staff and those who should implement regulations to make sure that they are safe, comfortable, not bullied and so forth. We have a continuing interest in this legislation.