Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leader for laying out the draft Order of Business, with which I have no difficulty. I am looking forward to the debate on carers, which is timely and appropriate. Both Private Members' motions today are interesting and I hope we will have good attendance and engagement on both of them.

I raise the shocking report, "Wasted Lives", published last week by the Ombudsman, Mr. Peter Tyndall. Mr. Tyndall spoke of how too many people's futures were being wasted in nursing homes. He was referring, of course, to the 1,300 people below the age of 65 who are effectively trapped in nursing homes. His report is powerful and I recommend that everyone read it.

The Ombudsman's website features a Youtube video in which people give personal testimony. One lady spoke of suffering from pain and being unable to get the support of a nursing home to allow her to get to a general hospital for treatment. She was told she would have to pay the cost of transport. The individuals who speak are all named. Another individual, Shane, said that he loves swimming but the nursing home would not pay for him to go to a public swimming pool. We heard the terrible story of Mark, at 48, who fell off a ladder, Francis, 52, who had a stroke, and Liam at 52, who also had a stroke. I also mention Rosie and Adam.

It is a shocking report about young people who are trapped in nursing homes, not given appropriate care and, more important, not given the important choice. One man asked after ten years why he was still there, having made some sort of recovery and rehabilitation, was told that he forgot he signed a consent letter. He asked how he could have signed a consent letter if he did not know what he was doing ten years ago. The Ombudsman took it upon himself and his staff to visit a substantial number of these people and hear their harrowing stories of being isolated and forgotten. In the last year, some of them have died in nursing homes. No alternative care packages were given. No care plans were drawn up for these people. We need to look at this issue and all of us must take it up in our political groupings and with our contacts and Ministers to see if we can drive something forward.

There is a disability strategy. It is interesting that today, the Irish Examinerhas a story about how it contacted all 31 local authorities. One of the councils, in Cork, stated it was not aware of such a strategy and then came back a few hours later to say "Yes, it was". Three other local authorities had never met and had no strategy in place. This is about providing alternative, transitional homes with the supports that are needed for people with disability.

We need to shout out loud and demand individual care packages for people trapped in these nursing homes. More important, we have to look at our housing mix and how we can provide suitable accommodation for these people to transition out of institutional care and back into the community where they belong. Our citizens should rightfully have meaningful engagement with their community and their lives.