Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials to the House. I also welcome the publication and the passing by the Dáil of the Health Bill 2006. This is important legislation because it is timely and necessary. Many of the points made by Senator White are correct as far as the implementation of the Bill is concerned.

The benefit of this Bill is that inspections will be carried out not only on private nursing homes but also on public nursing homes. They were exempt from the original inspection system that was carried out by the former health boards and which continued under the Health Service Executive. One gets the impression there was no inspector operating, but in fact there was. From my experience on the health board, quite a number of private nursing homes came under very close scrutiny. The possibility was raised that some of them might be closed down for poor conditions. However, in many cases the service, care and kindness provided by many owners and managers of these institutions was second to none. There may have been difficulties with the facilities, but the care and attention was not lacking. The public nursing homes were exempt from any inspection whatever by this inspectorate, which was an anomaly because many of the public nursing homes had conditions which were not up to the standards we expect in this millennium. That is why I welcome the fact the Bill provides for the inspection of public nursing homes.

The residents in public and private nursing homes are not empowered when it comes to their views on the management of these homes. There is a case to be made for a committee within the institution to be consulted on issues and to voice concerns. Many of the active residents of nursing homes are quite capable of putting forward the views of other residents on care and conditions. When I visit the Sacred Heart Hospital in Roscommon, I meet patients who have brought to my attention on behalf of other patients the conditions of sanitary facilities in those institutions. There is a case to be made for the empowerment of those patients.

A tax incentive is provided for the establishment of nursing homes, but there is no control on the numbers we require. In fact, some quality nursing homes are surviving and possibly making a good profit, while the demand does not exist for other nursing homes in the same locality. In that respect, there is excessive competition and because it is tax driven, there is no control. The inspectors and the Health Information and Quality Authority should be given some power to license the establishment of nursing homes in a specific area in advance of the construction of the home. They should also have a role in the plans for the home. There is no reason the plans for a nursing home should not be submitted to the authority for its views on the design of the building. I am also pleased there is an attempt to utilise the staff currently employed.

I discovered something in the Bill which I thought was being removed from all legislation. Section 13(3) states:

A person is not eligible for appointment as a member of the Board or a committee of the Board, if the person is-

(a) a member of either House of the Oireachtas or of the European Parliament——