Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. I thank Senator Kelleher, in particular, for co-ordinating and drafting all the work that has gone into this Bill. It is being co-sponsored across parties. That is a measure of Senator Kelleher's broad support, the respect she holds in this House and her understanding of these very complex issues, and I acknowledge that. Previous speakers spoke about her past experience. From the very first day I met her here, she has been passionate about care. She has proven time and again that she has used her experience in this House very effectively in terms of legislation. This is a particular case in point, and it is important to note that.

There are 24 sections in this important Bill. When Senator Kelleher first came to me and asked if I would co-sign it, which I immediately agreed to do, she said it might not be perfect but it is a start. It is an exceptionally good start. It may need slight tweaking, and that is where we all come in. We are all working together for the one objective, which is ultimately the safeguarding of adults. I like the Senator's emphasis on all adults. As she clearly pointed out, we will all be vulnerable at some stage in our lives. That is the nature of life. There will be times when we will be vulnerable, weak and reliant. We will be dependent on other people to advocate for us and to defend our rights.. That is a human response and a human need. I would like to think everyone would want to vindicate and support that safeguarding and protection of people.

The Minister and Senator Kelleher made the point, with which I agree, that this Bill has a strong human rights focus, and why would it not? This is about human rights and about respect for humanity and people. The Bill proposes the establishment of a national adult safeguarding authority with the objectives of promoting the safeguarding of adults at risk and reducing the abuse and harm of adults at risk, which will be some of the functions of that proposed authority. The proposals in the Bill are: to promote standards in the safety and quality of services provided for adults at risk, and that is what is envisaged in the national adult safeguarding authority; to undertake investigations where it believes, on reasonable grounds, there is a risk of abuse or harm of an adult at risk; to promote education, training and public awareness of the Act on matters concerning adults at risk; and to provide information to adults at risk in respect of abuse and harm they may be suffering.

We all know that abuse is very complex. It emotional, physical, financial, mental and sexual. There is a range of abuse, all of which is abuse, and there is no greater or lesser category of abuse. It is simply abuse. It is an appalling and shocking thing to happen anyone and no one should have to suffer abuse. More important, however, people need to be empowered to respond and seek out help and support when they are the subject of abuse. That is important. It is also important to say that not all abuse happens in institutional care. We know people are abused in their family homes. We know family members abuse members of their family, be they young, middle aged or old. That is the reality of it. We all know that from our casework. It is important that such work takes place.

Schedule 1 to the Bill reads, "The following classes of persons are specified as mandated persons for the purpose of this Act". It occurred to me as I read the list of mandated persons, which includes medical practitioners, social workers, probation officers, teachers and members of An Garda Síochána, that, sadly, I have read or heard of cases of abuse in every one of those categories. It has impacted on all those professions. Abuse knows no bounds, as we all know. That is an important point.

It is important the focus in the Bill is kept on the provision of person-centred support. It is important, with respect to the proposed national adult safeguarding authority, the establishment of which this Bill seeks to achieve, that it acts professionally and ethically, which is very important, and that we envisage and hope to empower people, either individually or collectively, which is very much needed, and that we protect and promote the rights of all adults.We must always act with a duty of care to people. People need to be empowered and understand the implications of that. We need to ensure the wishes and the preferences of individuals are taken into account when dealing with abuse. Far too often, I have met people who were in an abusive situation who do not feel they have any power and are afraid. Their first port of call may be to the authority that they are complaining about. That is the reality of it. There are real issues for people in identifying an appropriate first port of call, particularly in a care situation. This is particularly so if they are vulnerable or do not have family to assist in dealing with whatever organisation it may be. It is important that we inform people of the scope of abuses and empower them to go on.

There are real issues in maintaining independence of service from service providers in terms of protecting people. This is a real issue, as is the area of maintaining confidentiality. We have seen many instances in the past few months of people who wanted and sought help and had elements of their confidentiality eroded or not respected. It is very important that we at all times deal with the person and his or her story. They need space, time, support and confidentiality. However, confidentiality cannot be used to close down investigations and open up issues.

During my time in the Seanad, I have had to make representations on a number of cases of alleged abuse in institutions of this State. I have been bitterly disappointed by the lack of engagement. I have been bitterly disappointed that people who have alleged they are suffering abuse have not had the support of the agencies and authorities that should support them. I put that on the record of this House. I am pursuing one or two issues at a very senior level, which is the appropriate place. There will come a time when I will have to push out further. I do not think that is good enough. To go back to people who are suffering and tell them there is a process which takes a long time is no good for people in that terrible situation. We need competence, compassion, care, understanding and support for people.

I encourage everyone to support this Bill. The Minister has talked about pre-legislative scrutiny. The time is now. It is time for us to act, not delay this Bill. If there is to be pre-legislative scrutiny, which I understand and recognise is important, we do not want delay. We accept and acknowledge it needs to happen. We accept and acknowledge that people are being abused in institutions of this State. We know the record.

I pay particular tribute to RTE and the media - print, radio and television - because they have opened up the window and beamed terrible stories into our homes. It is important.

I want to hear when the next Stage of this proposed legislation which will give a statutory basis to protecting and safeguarding people will be. I thank the proposer and all those who co-signed the Bill.