Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue of the deprivation of liberty and institutional abuse and the particular responsibility we in Ireland, as a result of our history, have to ensure that the State takes an active role in monitoring, overseeing and intervening to safeguard the vulnerable in institutions from being abused. A key mechanism for addressing the potential for abuse in institutions is to ensure independent and regular inspections. Inspections shine a light on otherwise closed and hidden spaces, often the common thread of institutional abuse. Providing for such inspections is the central idea behind the optional protocol to the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, OPCAT, which Ireland has yet to ratify.

Even after the litany of revelations of institutional and historical abuse in Ireland, our inspection regime is seriously flawed. There is no inspection body for those detained in Garda stations following arrest. The inspectorate of prisons has published only one prison inspection report since 2014. There is no oversight body for direct provision centres or nursing homes, and many existing inspection mechanisms are not clearly entitled under law to conduct unannounced and regular inspections.

Under OPCAT, Ireland would be required to establish a national preventive mechanism, which is a co-ordinated inspection regime that is independent of government and has real powers. Independent inspectors could go to any place of detention unannounced and inspect any part of the residence. These would not just be in settings that we traditionally think of as detention centres, such as prisons or Garda stations, because many people are deprived of their liberty in health and social care settings, including immigration detention facilities, psychiatric hospitals, care homes, secure accommodation for children and nursing homes. People with disabilities, older people or those in addiction can be subjected to coercive practices in care, such as the withholding or overuse of vital medicine. Thorough and sustained monitoring and oversight of all these places is needed in order to protect people from inhuman or degrading treatment. Ireland signed OPCAT in 2007 but has not ratified it, which means that the Government does not have to comply with its requirements. What are the Government's plans in this area and when we can expect Ireland to ratify OPCAT? As we know from the experience with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, this can happen separately to the legislative process.

I will also oppose the change to Standing Orders if it comes to a vote. The change seems to suit the current needs of Government Senators. The quorum is one of the few parliamentary tactics we have in opposition. Regardless of whether I agree that it has been abused, I definitely do not want to shoot myself in the foot, particularly if I need to abuse at some point in the future in the context of legislation in which I have a vested interest. I will oppose the change to Standing Orders if it comes to it.