Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)
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381. To ask the Minister for Health when safeguarding regulation for nursing homes will be put in place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31244/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Safeguarding adults who may be at risk of abuse is a key objective of my Department, every statutory body under its aegis and every relevant service that interacts with such adults.

Safeguarding against potential abuse is an important element of the existing regulatory framework for nursing homes under the Health Act 2007 (Care and Welfare of Residents in Designated Centres for Older People) Regulations 2013.

These Regulations set out a number of specific obligations in relation to safeguarding against abuse that registered providers must comply with, including requirements to:

• prepare, adopt and implement written policies and procedures on various matters, including prevention, detection and response to abuse – under Regulation 4;
• take all reasonable measures to protect residents from abuse, including training staff on how to detect, prevent and respond to abuse – under Regulation 8;
• investigate any incident or allegation of abuse – also under Regulation 8;
• record any incident of abuse and make it available for inspection by the Chief Inspector of Social Services (in the Health Information and Quality Authority) – under Regulation 21;
• maintain a risk management policy that includes the measures and actions in place to control abuse – under Regulation 26; and
• notify the Chief Inspector within 2 days of any incident of confirmed or alleged abuse – under Regulation 31.

Work is also under way to further strengthen the existing protections in place in the sector. The Programme for Government 2025 ‘Securing Ireland’s Future’ includes a commitment to publish a national policy on adult safeguarding for the health and social care sector. My Department, in liaison with the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, is at an advanced stage of finalising this policy and it will be brought to Government shortly.

The policy will commit to the development of adult safeguarding legislation for the sector. The Government has included a Health (Adult Safeguarding) Bill in its current Legislation Programme to facilitate this.