Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

Last night's " Prime Time Investigates" programme was hugely disturbing because the victims are people who are not in a position to fight back and many of them will not live to tell the tale. What is really disturbing is that it involves a systems breakdown in the HSE. The problem - I want to Leader to respond and to bring this point to the attention of the Minister and possibly have it debated - is that the HSE stopped the practice of recruiting home helps and home care assistants and brought in outside private agencies and speculative people to do the job. It diverted responsibility. There used to be a hands-on approach, whereby local nurses recruited home helps based on local knowledge and common sense. Those appointed were monitored by them. Now we have private agencies engaged in the business for profit and gain, which was very visible in last night's programme. The ones who need to answer are the HSE and, ultimately, the Department and the Minister. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on the issue. I am sure the source of the problem lies in the fact that responsibility for recruiting and managing home helps shifted from the HSE to private agencies with a profit motive only which were not properly regulated. It is disgraceful and wrong. Sufficient personnel were available to do it, as there are enough people at middle management level in the HSE. The shift to private agencies is inexcusable, wrong and a complete failure of the system and the patients are the vulnerable victims.

I join the call for a debate on the issue of the bonus for bankers. We must have an investigation into how and on what grounds a bonus could be due because, as Senator O'Toole pointed out, there were no achievements that would give rise to a bonus. There is obviously something very wrong in that regard and I would like a debate on it.