Seanad debates

Tuesday, 14 December 2010

3:00 pm

Photo of Rónán MullenRónán Mullen (Independent)

Senator Fitzgerald made the point that it was only when the bankers' bonuses came into the public arena that action was taken. We could apply that comment to the issue covered by last night's "Prime Time Investigates" programme. When will the public and the Department of Health and Children start to prioritise the care of older persons? The Minister must come to the House at the earliest opportunity to discuss this issue.

Last night we saw people who were little better than pimps procure incompetent, untrained and, in some cases, uncaring people to take care of older persons in their homes. We saw people who were supposed to spend an hour with someone spend sometimes as little as 15 minutes providing completely inadequate care. For how long did the health authorities know this was going on?

The Minister of State, Deputy Áine Brady, said the Department of Health and Children is currently examining regulations for the sector but for how long has it been currently examining regulations for the sector? Is it since last night's programme or for some time prior to that, which it might be able to specify?

It is a reflection on our society and on us that it takes documentaries of this kind to draw attention to major injustices in our society. It was said there have been approximately 38 complaints in recent years. Given the need to respect the desire of the older person, we know that only in the case of serious crime can the desire not to report a case be overborne. The responsibility is all the greater on us to ensure we get the necessary standards, training, regulation, oversight and integration with other services.

We need a suspension of the moratorium and special decision-making to ensure the Health Information and Quality Authority, other bodies and public health nurses have a supervisory role. We must end the spectacle of fly-by-night companies being able to advertise on their websites the fact they are HSE approved.

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