David Norris (Independent)

If I may make a positive final comment, and this is a serious matter, I can recall a case in which I was involved where an elderly woman was living in conditions of considerable untidiness which I will not describe as squalor as they were not unclean. She had a serious problem with her eyesight and, eventually, with her co-operation I arranged for her to be hospitalised for a short time. She was never brought back home. I had arranged for the place to be done up and various things put in for her and it was really rather sad because she was transferred, after assessment, to a State facility. With the best will in the world I am not sure the care was adequate because this elderly lady eventually succumbed to the effects of very serious bed sores. It was a horrible way to go. If she had been assisted after assessment involving social workers and a multidisciplinary team, it might have been possible for her to go back and live her untidy life as she wished in her tiny house and she would not have died in agony from the bed sores. That is where Senator Mary White on the Government benches is coming from.

This is my last word on it. The Minister of State said I was correct in stating that the term "multidisciplinary" is not used in the Bill. The reason she gave was that there is no definition of "multidisciplinary" in the Bill. That is a circular argument. Of course one does not need a definition if it is not included. An important opportunity has been missed to include that definition and it is not adequate to state that it does not occur in other Bills. This was a moment to include it because this is the Bill where it is most appropriate.

There is a perfectly adequate definition of "multidisciplinary" from the HSE and from the correct support services, and we could have included it in the legislation. As the Minister of State says the aim is to get multidisciplinary assessment, let us have it and let us include it. We need not be shy. We all are grown-ups. We can face it on the page. All the Minister of State need do is insert the definition. If she and her advisers are not too exhausted by this, let them look at my definition, which is the HSE's definition, and let us insert it in the Bill. The Minister of State will not have to do any homework. We have the definition ready for her.

Let the Minister of State not say we cannot have it in the Bill because there is no definition. There is no point in having a definition of something if it is not included in the Bill. Let us put it in. We have given her the definition. That is being helpful.