Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Like so many of my colleagues here today I want to express my absolute horror at what happened at Áras Attracta in County Mayo. I am shocked, horrified and embarrassed at what I watched on "Prime Time" last night. I commend Paul Maguire and his investigation team from "Prime Time" on exposing this most shocking of human rights abuses of elderly and vulnerable people. I fully expect that legal prosecutions will follow for those staff members who physically assaulted, verbally threatened, punched, dragged, kicked and beat the service users in Áras Attracta. The buck should not stop there. It is incumbent on State agencies to provide a safe environment for people who need protection over and above the norm. Last night's programme highlighted the gaping hole in legislation to protect the elderly and most vulnerable in society. There is no doubt these people require extra protection and we must now act to provide it.

Perpetrators of the kind of abuse that we witnessed on "Prime Time" last night act from a position of control and power because they know full well that the service users in Áras Attracta are incapable of climbing into a witness box in a court which means they cannot give evidence about their own maltreatment. The people who mistreated the residents of Áras Attracta know they will never be prosecuted for their actions, omissions and behaviour because there is no third party whistleblower. It is very clear that we need to immediately move to address this issue. I propose the establishment of a cross-party emergency committee to examine the treatment of the elderly and vulnerable residents in all homes in Ireland. We should also discuss increasing penalties for anyone who abuses, hurts or maims the people we should be protecting. At the very least our vulnerable and elderly are entitled to protection and if we do not then what kind of a democracy are we left with?