Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

The Bill provides for the chief inspector to inspect residential centres against standards set by HIQA and regulations made by the Minister. Regulations for private nursing homes are currently made under the Health (Nursing Homes) Act 1990 and regulations for children's residential centres are made under sections 38 and 63 of the Child Care Act 1991.

Regulations for private nursing homes will now be made under the Health Bill rather than the Health (Nursing Homes) Act 1990. However, it had been intended that while regulations in respect of the registration requirements for children's residential centres would be made under the Health Bill, regulations in respect of standards of care at children's residential centres would continue to be made under the Child Care Act 1991. Offence provisions relating to the operation of children's residential centres would, therefore, be split between the Child Care Act 1991 and the Health Bill, with prosecutions taken by the chief inspector under both sets of legislation.

Following further consideration of this matter and in consultation with the Parliamentary Counsel, it has been decided that the best approach would be to ensure that all of the relevant regulations on standards are made under the Health Bill. This would result in a more easily understood system of regulation overall. The change in approach advocated by the Parliamentary Counsel necessitated some amendments to the Health Bill and, consequently, some amendments to the Child Care Act 1991 which I will now outline.

Amendment No. 12 is a technical amendment to section 41. Section 41 sets out the functions of the chief inspector of social services, one of whose functions, under paragraph (c), is to assess whether the registered provider of a designated centre is in compliance with regulations made under the Bill or under any other Act that provides for the regulations of such centres. As all regulations in respect of standards will now be made under the Bill, it is proposed to delete the reference made to regulations made under any other Act in paragraph (c).

Amendment No. 14 amends section 45. As Senators may be aware, the Health Service Executive currently carries out inspections of children's residential centres provided by the voluntary sector. The executive also inspects private nursing homes and under section 45 the Bill provides for a transitional arrangement whereby the Minister may require the Health Service Executive to continue to carry out inspections of children's residential centres and private nursing homes. This is intended as a temporary arrangement to facilitate the continued inspection of the relevant services pending the finalising of all necessary arrangements, such as the transfer of staff and resources to the authority. Amendment No. 14 is, therefore, a technical amendment to section 45 to take account of amendments to the Child Care Act.

Section 50 deals with the granting or refusal by the chief inspector of social services of applications for registration of designated centres or applications for renewal of registration. In granting registration the chief inspector must be satisfied that the designated centre complies with standards set by HIQA and regulations made by the Minister. Amendment No. 15 is a technical amendment to section 50 to delete references to regulations made under the Child Care Act 1991 and ensure that all references to regulations in the section are to regulations made under the Bill.

Section 79 provides for offences and subsection (2) of that section sets out the offences committed by a registered provider of a designated centre if the registered provider fails to discharge a duty to which he or she is subject or contravenes a provision of the regulations made in respect of a designated centre. Amendment No. 16 to section 79 is a technical drafting amendment to ensure that all relevant regulations made under the Bill are taken into account.

Section 101 allows the Minister to make regulations with respect to designated centres and amendment No. 18 ensures that such regulations will now be applicable to children's residential centres. The Bill currently deletes those sections of the Child Care Act 1991 that provide for the registration of children's residential centres operated by the voluntary sector as, along with the Health Service Executive residential centres, registration of these centres will now be regulated under the Health Bill.

Amendment No. 19 to Schedule 1 and amendment No. 22 to Schedule 2 are further technical amendments to the Child Care Act 1991 to delete provisions relating to the making of regulations for residential centres and related offences under that Act. These deletions are consequential to changes made to the Health Bill as all regulations relating to residential centres will now be made under the Bill and offences against the regulations will be prosecuted under the Bill.