Marie Moloney (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I add my voice in condemning the appalling and disgusting behaviour towards and treatment of residents at Áras Attracta. It is only a year and a half ago that the Seanad discussed similar abuse in child care facilities. It is terrible that we have to hear what is going on in our facilities through the media.

We must also be very careful not to tar every single care facility with the same brush. I know there are some superb long-stay care facilities for the elderly and people with disabilities up and down the length and breadth of the country.

Throughout the length and breadth of this country, there are some superb long-stay and care facilities for the elderly and for people with disabilities. I know that because I worked in one before going into politics. The most important people in those care facilities were not the people coming in or the staff, but the residents. We were never allowed to call them patients or anything other than residents and they were always treated with dignity and kindness. No amount of training will teach people care, decency, respect and love. If one does not have those fundamental qualities, one should not be in the position of caring for our sick, our elderly or our children. We must ensure that people going into these jobs have those qualities.

What can we do here as a Government and as elected representatives? As has already been pointed out, today is International Human Rights Day. We must make progress. The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Bill was supposed to be the final step before we ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. We can do that. We can listen to the people if they come to us with complaints about treatment in long-care facilities, or in any facility. It is our duty as elected representatives to pass on those complaints to the powers that be and insist that they listen to us.