David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would like to ask the Leader if we can have a debate on the situation in Áras Attracta in Swinford, County Mayo, where there was substantial and serious abuse of patients, especially in Bungalow Three. I understand a programme on this will be broadcast tonight. I would like to express my sympathy to the patients and their relatives. However, the root cause of this is austerity and the financial situation in the country. It is the re-implementation of these measures. During the presidential election I saw the situation. I take my hat off to the people working in these kinds of institutions because they are put under such severe pressure. When a person retired, he or she was not replaced. This was endemic. If the person transferred, he or she was not replaced. The moratorium on employment in the public service saw to that. There was an ever increasing and appalling burden placed on these people because of the declining patient-carer ratio. This is a direct result of the prevailing financial conditions. This country, and its citizens, were the victims of a highway robbery or a stick-up job by the European Union. It held us to ransom, with the Government of the day and the Opposition colluding in it. We were subject to treatment to which no other country in Europe was subject. We should go to the European Union and demand a recalculation of this situation.

During the week we were told by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, in the Dáil that there was a strong possibility the junior bondholders in Anglo Irish Bank would be reimbursed. These are people who took a risk. They gambled. None of them is an original bondholder. They are people who paid 7%. They are demanding to be paid in full. They should be given their answer, and told to go to hell. How can we expect the citizens of this country to continue to be so subservient when they are confronted with these extraordinary contradictions? I ask for a debate on this subject.

I agree with every word my colleague Senator Darragh O'Brien said about reform of Seanad Éireann. It is very important that someone who continues to practise as a Senator should be involved, but I welcome the establishment of this committee.