Maria McCormack (Sinn Fein)

I rise today furious about the "RTÉ Investigates" programme into Emeis nursing homes, one of which is in my hometown of Portlaoise. Since the broadcast aired, I have been contacted by many families of loved ones who are resident there at present and residents who have passed away. They have no answers. They are devastated and retraumatised. They are demanding answers, as they should. We cannot dress this up as poor standards or under-resourcing. What we saw was abuse, pure and simple. Older people and vulnerable people were left soiled and distressed. Staff were caught on camera handling residents roughly, shouting at them and denying them dignity. There were no towels, no gloves, no wipes and no compassion. This is just what we witnessed on camera. I have also been contacted by families who, when they were shown the footage from RTÉ, did not agree to have it shown on television because the abuse was too severe. We are only seeing a snippet of what has gone on in these homes. There were only three homes in the broadcast. This is the largest private nursing home operator in the country. If this is what is happening in one, what confidence can we have in the rest? What safeguards are actually in place?Let us call it what it is. We have allowed a system of care to develop that puts profit before people. Over 70% of nursing home beds are now private. That did not happen by accident. It happened by policy. We need the safeguarding legislation that has been talked about since 2017. Social workers, experts and advocates all demand it. We need mandatory reporting of abuse. We need legal rights of entry for social care professionals. HIQA inspections every few months is just not enough.

We need a system that cares. Our older people should not just be warehoused. We need a system where families do not live in fear of what is happening behind closed doors. I ask the Leader to call in the Minister for Health for a debate on this urgently because the families of the loved ones in these homes need answers. There must be prosecutions.