Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am making a suggestion, which is my right in closing the debate, that the Minister of State has not met the organisations or engaged in the level of dialogue required. She is so out of touch that the HSE is saying one thing regarding a crisis in long-term stay beds while she is saying something completely different. BDO, the experts in the field, are shouting from the rooftops that there is a problem in this area but the Government is sticking its head in the sand and cherry-picking statistics that might defend or paper over the inaction in this area. As I said in my opening contribution, this is not a criticism of the Minister of State whose personal commitment I do not doubt. However, she is treated like the whipping boy of the Government because she is starved of resources to deal with the problems of the health sector whether they relate to mental health, disability services or the elderly in this scenario.

I mentioned at the outset that the Oireachtas has failed and continues to fail the elderly. This includes the current and the previous Government. Now people want to put their heads back in the sand and say everything is rosy in the garden, we do not need to set up a forum and we do not want to engage with the people who know in this area. The Minister of State's silence indicates she never bothered to meet them. We will put this issue to a division and will continue to raise it until those who cannot speak for themselves and who depend on excellent advocacy groups such as Nursing Homes Ireland or Third Age do so on their behalf have been looked after.