David Cullinane
Waterford · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I met many of those patients and people with the illness yesterday. Many of them were here in Leinster House. They told me, as they have in the past, they cannot walk and they cannot swallow and, as the Taoiseach acknowledged, it is also very difficult for their families who have to watch as their condition worsens and the disease progres…”
“In fact, in the programme for Government the Government committed to reviewing that process because it was accepted it does not always work. The technical review group obviously now needs to be convened and needs to meet urgently. Emily cannot afford more delays.”
“Yesterday, as the Taoiseach knows, the HSE drugs group met to consider reimbursement of Skyclarys, the first approved treatment that can slow the progression of Friedreich's ataxia. Patients hoped for a positive decision. This process has been ongoing for years.”
“They were left desperately making phone calls, checking for updates, asking journalists and asking politicians if they had heard anything. They were treated appallingly. Then, when the news did eventually filter though, they were left devastated.”
“Richard Walsh, consultant neurologist and co-director of the National Ataxia Clinic, has described this drug as a ground-breaking development. He has said that he would prescribe it if it were available in Ireland and that it may reduce the rate of disease progression.”
“"We are not going to regain any of the abilities we've lost, but Skyclarys will give us time. Time when you're dealing with our progressive relentless disease is everything. We all deserve time with our loved ones." Those are the words of Emily Felix, a 28-year-old trainee solicitor from Kilkenny who is living with Friedreich's ataxia.”
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“I said a number of months ago this was a case of sending a fool further. Every time we come in, a Minister stands up and the first words out of that Minister's mouth are that the Government is supportive of Waterford Airport and the runway extension. Again, as I said, show me the money. Show the people of Waterford the money. Give us the opportunity to have a fighting chance to be able to get that commercial activity. It is the Government that is holding up progress, not private sector sponsors, or the airport or local authorities. It is the Government that has, so far, refused to put any money on the table. I still hear nothing tonight from the Minister of State that tells me that will change any time soon.”
“The Minister of State might be familiar with the phrases "Build it and they will come" and "Show us the money". He stated that it is up to the airport "to demonstrate that sufficient demand and industry commitment [should] exist to facilitate regular scheduled passenger services". That can only be determined when there is a runway. If there is no runway, no airline will come in. At the moment, jets cannot take off from Waterford Airport. It is turboprop planes only. That is the difficulty. If we get a runway extension, we have a fighting chance. The Minister of State talked about sponsoring agencies. There are three local authorities, not just Waterford. Kilkenny and Wexford are putting serious money on the table. This is needed. Games are being played here for far too long.”
“Three local authorities – Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford – are putting very serious money on the table. We also have private sector consortia putting money on the table. Those who have so far come empty-handed in terms of money, albeit with many promises, are the Department and Government. I ask the Minister of State again whether he can set out whether the Government is going to support the airport. When will he deliver the funding?”
“The situation has become ridiculous in that it was 2019 when a previous Minister for Transport, Shane Ross, actually signed off in principle that the State would fund the airport. A lot of work has been done since to provide the Department with countless clarifications to a previous business case that was submitted, and the people of Waterford are asking themselves what is going on and why the airport in Waterford cannot get a fighting chance. Everybody knows that either the runway happens and different types of aircraft can take off, which means we have a chance to have commercial activity at the airport again, or it does not happen and the airport closes. That is the stark reality facing us. We want to have the same opportunities as any other region.”
“I have lost count of how many times Waterford Airport has been raised over the last number of years in the Dáil Chamber. I have certainly raised it dozens of times. A meeting took place between Government representatives, the Minister for Transport and members of the board of Waterford Airport a number of months ago. There was a lot of frustration in Waterford following that meeting because, after years of business cases, more information being sought, further information and clarification, the people of Waterford saw funding going to other airports, in Cork, Donegal, Kerry, Shannon and, obviously, Dublin. Waterford seems left behind again. The frustration was over the fact that more information and another business case were sought for Waterford Airport.”
“It is very often the same families coming to us. One email I reviewed during the summer said that for three years in a row there have been problems. For three years in a row, we have been trying to help and assist through our offices, but it should not take people having to go to their local TD to try to raise issues with Bus Éireann or with the Department to get it sorted. It is not beyond us to have a properly functioning school transport system, but it seems to be beyond this Government. I am afraid that I am not going to give the Minister a false pat on the back and say that the Government is doing a great job. It simply is not. The system is not up to standard. We need serious investment and reform of the system if we want to make it fit for purpose.”
“He said the Minister was doing a great job and that all we need is a bus and a driver. I would have thought it was fairly obvious that for children we need buses and drivers. If we do not have buses and drivers, then we do not have school places. Rather than giving the Minister a pat on the back on one hand and then saying there are problems in every part of his constituency, we need the Government to implement the recommendations in the report it commissioned, most of which have not been implemented. In my constituency of Waterford, I was inundated with calls from the east of the county, from Dunmore East, to the west of the county, from families in Lismore where children did not have places, or whose tickets were late coming. In almost every part of rural Waterford there are problems every single year.”
“The school transport system is simply not up to standard. As previous speakers said, every year in the first week or second week back after the summer recess we are dealing with the same issues. In fact, all of our constituency offices are inundated in the months of July and August, but particularly August, with parents who are frustrated with the eligibility criteria, the concessionary criteria, the fact their child has not got a place or the fact they have not got the ticket, or they are waiting for their ticket to come. It is frustration after frustration. It was interesting to hear some of the Government representatives. Deputy Cleere was one of them. He said the Minister was doing a great job, but then listed nearly every town and village in Kilkenny where there are problems. I am not sure what great job the Minister is doing.”
“The lack of joined-up thinking and planning right across the system was breathtaking. from the National Council for Special Education and the Department right down. That is an absolute failure. It is not fair on those children. We are here again with a motion because, while there were improvements in some areas and additional classes, some of the classes that were announced in Waterford city and county are not available as the additional physical space or resources were not made available. That infuriates the principals and teachers in those schools but also the parents. We need a proper plan. It is not beyond us to fix this problem. We are here every year and every year we fall behind. As an Teachta O'Rourke said, more than 230 children are still waiting.”
“They could not tell me how many additional special classes were going to be put in place. They told me that it simply was not possible to provide special classes in some of the schools. I picked up the phone to school principals across Waterford city and county, as did Deputy McGuinness. Those same schools told us they could provide special classes, but they needed physical space and additional supports. I went back to the National Council for Special Education and the SENO and, lo and behold, the classes were eventually put in place within a couple of months. We had meetings with the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan. We had a Private Members' business debate here not so long ago when parents again came to the Public Gallery. Rebecca Meehan from Dungarvan in County Waterford was one of those campaigners, among many others.”
“Earlier this year, Deputy Conor McGuinness and I met with parents of children with disabilities from Waterford city and county. At the time, those parents were heartbroken because they had no idea if their child would have an appropriate class place. Many of them were sent on a wild goose chase, as they were told they had to contact schools themselves. In some instances, they had to contact 14, 15 and 16 schools only to be told each and every time they made a phone call that there was no special class and no place for their child. I arranged meetings with the local SENO and the National Council for Special Education. I was taken aback by the fact that they could not tell me how many children were waiting for special classes. They did not have the data.”
“I will mention before I finish one young campaigner, Karl Cretzan, who has cerebral palsy and is wheelchair bound. He advocates day and night, not only for himself but for people with disabilities about public transport and other areas. What people like Karl, Nathan and Joshua want to see is, yes plans, but also resources and delivery. Unfortunately, we have far too many plans and not enough resources or delivery.”
“the delay in agreeing the funding required; the large numbers of school leavers this year and difficulties we have had in identifying suitable locations for all applicants which required two new settings; and a staff recruitment process. Through no fault of their own, those parents and young school leavers who are now young adults cannot get access to those day services because of staffing problems, because funding was not released and because the planning was not done. It is the same across the board. We can have all the plans we want and they can be wonderful and the words can be wonderful, but the resources must be made available. I have seen it in my constituency in Waterford with parents and children, especially those with disabilities.”
“Many of them still do not have one and we are tabling a motion on that today. A number of families in Waterford struggled. Additional classes were put on in Waterford schools, but some of those schools are still waiting for the classrooms - the physical space - or teachers. I am dealing with two cases at the moment of two young men, Joshua who is 18, and Nathan who is 18. They are waiting for access to day care services. They are early school leavers and they are being told they cannot get a date for when their placements will start. This is the response from the HSE. I must inform you however that it is unlikely that we will be in a position to commence services before the end of September. This is due to a number of factors i.e.”
“I was at an event about mental health a number of years ago where a presentation was given by an expert in the field who works on the ground. The person put up a photograph of a car that was held up, not by four wheels, but by plans and policy documents. She was illustrating the point that policy documents and plans are not in short supply. We have any number of them in mental health and the same goes for disability. We had a disability strategy that was never properly funded. Her point was that the car will not go anywhere without resources and that we have to look at people's experiences. Regarding children with disabilities, parents have to struggle almost every day to get the basics for their children. We saw it in recent months when trying to get access to appropriate school places for children with disabilities.”
“When I asked the Minister for Health and the HSE about the level of Saturday activity happening on a public-only contract, the question could not be answered by the HSE. When I asked the HSE how much was spent on locum cover for consultants who are not able to fulfil their out-of-hours obligations, the HSE could not answer it. When I asked about how much individual consultants, in anonymised fashion, were making from private work on public lists through insourcing arrangements, I was told this information is not available at a national level. How can we know what is happening if we are not collecting the data? An awful lot more work needs to be done in that area.”
“The new maternity hospital will have to be built. Unless there is a substantial increase in capital funding, I do not see how any of that is going to be paid for. Then the focus will be on the Government, the Department of Health and the Department of public expenditure and reform to explain to people which projects will not be funded and what will not be done if health does not get its fair share of any increased capital expenditure. There is an issue with accountability, even with regard to parliamentary questions. The purpose of the public-only contract that we put in place was to facilitate public work on weekends, but insourcing has allowed private practice in public hospitals on weekends, which is far more lucrative.”
“Not only are there trolleys strewn across corridors, but there are also trolleys full of paperwork that are being pushed around. When it comes to capital spending, there is a need to ensure that health is not forgotten in any revision of capital expenditure. We have to look at all of the needs across the health service over the next number of years. We had a good discussion in the committee today on digital transformation. That is going to cost a lot of money. The previous Minister for Health launched a comprehensive bed plan. That must be delivered and funded. We have all sorts of projects at a local level that every TD, whether in government or in opposition, will jump up and down for. They have to be funded. The children's hospital has to be completed. The new elective hospitals will have to be built.”
“It is a wasted opportunity because of what is not in it. When the health committee conducted pre-legislative scrutiny, one of our recommendations was that the Bill would provide for capital funding to be approved, indicatively on a multi-annual basis, to facilitate a proactive, multi-annual capital planning framework. That has not been incorporated into this Bill. While the HSE has to be expected and held accountable for operating within budget, it also must be enabled to make the very sizeable investments in digital infrastructure, bed capacity and primary care reform that are needed to make health spending more sustainable. The health service is inefficient by design. It is hospital-centric and working on pen and paper.”
“It seems to be a way for the Government to pretend it is being tough on the HSE for budget failures without providing the reforms that are truly necessary. The Bill retains the shortsighted focus on annual-based planning. Year-to-year planning in the health service does not work. No multibillion organisation operates on a year-to-year basis in the same way that the HSE does. The Government parties signed up to multi-annual frameworks in the programme for Government, but they have failed to translate that into this Bill. That is deeply disappointing. While the Bill provides for a three-year corporate plan, which already exists, it does not provide for multi-annual frameworks in respect of funding, staffing and capital delivery. That is why, unfortunately, I see this Bill as a wasted opportunity.”
“If, after taking corrective action and every measure tolerable to the Minister and the public to curtail spending, the HSE still runs over budget, there could be severe knock-on consequences for services. Such a proposal would only result in us returning to a situation that we had last year where a deficit is accumulated within the HSE’s budget over a time period only to be bailed out after several years when it is no longer tenable to carry that deficit forward. While these are important changes, they are nothing new. These amendments to the Health Acts are largely reflective of changes which have already occurred in practice between the Minister, the Department and the HSE. The truth is that this Bill does not implement any meaningful change.”
“The remaining substantive element of the Bill is the new process for ensuring that the HSE remains within budget and provides a legal basis for what is called corrective action proposals. There is already a requirement on the HSE to operate within budget. I do not think the CEO of the HSE allows the organisation to run over budget intentionally. This again seems to be rather meaningless. Notably, the Bill provides that where the HSE goes over budget, it must pay for this out of the following year’s budget. Where it makes a saving, it may, subject to approval, retain that money for the following year. There is a concerning stipulation in this regard. As we know, health services are demand led.”
“Given that this retains the annual approach to the service plan as the default and that the Minister currently issues priorities annually to the HSE through a letter of determination, this appears to be a rebranding exercise rather than any substantive change. Notably, it allows the Minister to extend the performance delivery plan over any period the Minister wishes, but it does not require a multi-annual plan by default. The Bill also places an additional legal requirement on the HSE to exercise: ... the highest standards of prudent and effective budgetary management, including with regard to the achievement of value for money and recognition of the importance of managing within authorised financial and employee resources ... One would have thought that this was already a legal responsibility for any public body.”
“The substance of the Bill is dealt with in Part 2, which provides for an improved performance delivery plan - this will replace the HSE's annual service plan - to be approved by the Ministers for Health and Children, Disability and Equality and developed on the basis of the statement of health service priorities. The Bill also places new obligations on the HSE regarding its three-year corporate plan, which is already done on a three-year basis, and provides that the Minister for Health and the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Deputy Foley, will issue strategic direction statements to inform the HSE’s priorities.”
“While it is true that more services are being delivered than ever before, waiting times are, at best, stagnating rather than coming down substantially in the way that was promised when the Government parties signed up to Sláintecare. That is why this legislation is so important in the context of bringing governance and accountability arrangements up to a higher standard. We must ask whether the Bill will achieve that or whether it is simply more window-dressing to allow the Government to pretend it is doing something meaningful. Unfortunately, this Bill is a wasted opportunity. I will outline why.”
“I do not need to be corrected. I know how the Dáil works. Accountability and good governance have always been at the fore of any debate about the health service. There is much great work is done by our front-line workers who strive every day to do their best. The efficiency with which many in the health service work, particularly in overcrowded emergency departments and under-staffed wards, is genuinely never credited. Unfortunately, that good work is often overshadowed by colossal waste and mismanagement across the HSE. Since 2020, the health budget has ballooned, but the return on that investment has been questionable.”
“I do not know any woman who would choose to go abroad for invasive treatment by choice. The reason they go abroad is that the specialist treatment the Minister spoke about simply does not exist. What we are calling for in our motion is a centre of excellence supported by regional centres where women can get gold standard treatment. Women travel because the gold standard is not available. The Minister was accused earlier of gaslighting women. I have to say I stand over that because that is how those women will feel.”
“The Minister did not say anywhere in her speech that local hospitals have also failed. I do not blame the staff in those hospitals because they simply have not been trained. Women have had bad experiences where they have gone to hospitals. The Minister talked about specialist hospital care. For the women we talked to, specialist hospital care does not exist. The Minister said that some women may choose to avail of private treatment abroad.”
“Never have I seen a debate where the Ministers' speeches were so far removed from the reality of women and their experiences. I watched as women in the Public Gallery got very angry when they listened to the Ministers' speeches. Many of them were in tears, and rightly so. For so long, these women have felt ignored and dismissed. I wager that they feel ignored and dismissed by the Minister's responses this evening. The Minister said in her opening statement that women are cared for at the most appropriate level of intervention, beginning at primary care by GPs and then in local hospital care and on to specialist hospital care. The reality is that, for the vast majority of women, primary care and local GPs are not the best option. In fact, that is where many of them were failed.”
“If she heard their message and listened to their voices, I guarantee she would do everything possible to provide the centre of excellence needed and make sure there are specialist training programmes in place to train surgeons and specialists to provide gold standard care, the necessary excisions, as opposed to some of the substandard treatments these women are getting. As a male, I stand with these women. Men and women in this House need to say enough is enough, we have to do more to support women with endometriosis. I encourage the Minister not to move her amendment and to support our motion.”
“They can be away for three or four weeks or even longer. No woman should have to go through that. No woman should have to travel abroad. I have spoken to masters of hospitals and specialists who deliver this service. All of them put their hands up and said they were not providing the care they should and there is an awful lot more that needs to be done. I appeal to the Minister, when this debate is finished, to talk to the women in the Public Gallery and hear their message.”
“The same women, 40 of whom are in the Public Gallery, were in the Sinn Féin party room earlier. I got chatting to some of them. They find the Minster's amendment offensive. Nowhere in the amendment does it capture what these women feel. It does not capture the substandard service or the fact that there is no pathway to diagnosis for many women. It is too late in many cases. There can be misdiagnosis, incorrect treatment and substandard care. Really galling for them is the part that says women, as a choice, can travel abroad. We have had far too much of that when it comes to women's healthcare. It is not a choice for these women. They felt heartbroken. The women who travelled were often on their own or in some cases had one or two family members with them. It was not for a day or a week even that these women were away.”
“Sinn Féin held nine public meetings on the issue of endometriosis over the past number of months. I attended some of those meetings. I was shocked when I heard a lot of the stories told by women. I listened carefully and watched as many of them cried in the presence of family members. The collective trauma in the room caught me by surprise. The message from these women of feeling ignored and dismissed and being offered substandard care was truly shocking. Also shocking was the number of women who told me they had to travel abroad, not through choice but through necessity. A 27-year-old woman had three surgeries, one in Ireland, and then had to travel to London for a radical hysterectomy. A lot of her organs, unfortunately, were taken out. It was a really traumatic experience for her.”
“According to two parliamentary questions I have put down, of all the model 4 hospitals, University Hospital Waterford was joint bottom in relation to capital funding over the last ten years. Regarding technological universities, of all of the TUs, the South East Technological University was bottom of the list when it came to capital infrastructure. All of this proves that we are simply not getting our fair share. When is the Government going to sign off on the funding for Waterford Airport?”
“Over the last number of days, the South East Economic Monitor published its report, which showed a stagnant economy across the south east. There are very worrying figures in that report, which comes from a group of academics in the South East Technological University. One of the issues they cite is a lack of public investment in infrastructure. It is not that difficult to understand when there is no funding for the N24 this year and no funding for the N25 Waterford to Glenmore road, which should have got funding. There is still no funding for Waterford Airport. I have asked the Taoiseach several times about that but there is still no commitment from the Government to deliver.”
“What is going on and why is the Government not delivering on its promise to give Waterford a fighting chance to have commercial activity in Waterford Airport?”
“I have raised with the Taoiseach dozens of times the need to fund the runway extension at Waterford Airport. Every time I raise it, he says he is supportive and that it is in the programme for Government but there is deep frustration in Waterford as we watch on and see funding given to Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Kerry and Donegal airports, while Waterford is left behind. Last June I was told in a parliamentary question response by the Minister for Transport that all the information needed was with the Department and Minister. We now hear a new business case is being sought, which brings us back to square one and delays an announcement for years. I cannot overstate the disbelief and frustration in Waterford.”
“We have a Government which seems to think with regard to all of these areas that people should plough on, with all of the stress and mental health difficulties that go with it, and that mothers, fathers and working families across the State should just be let get on with it. I do not believe that is acceptable. An awful lot more needs to be done. I am not satisfied at all with the contribution from the Minister and the response from Government so a lot more needs to be done. I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this very worthwhile motion and giving us the opportunity to discuss it.”
“In almost all of these areas, the Opposition is putting forward proposals and solutions, yet the Government is ignoring them. We do not have affordable homes. We have mortgages and affordable houses in the region of €400,000, €500,000 or even more. It is unbelievable that, in a country that is very wealthy, we have so many people who are very poor and so many working people who cannot afford to pay for basic services. That is on the Government. There is no doubt about it. We can control rent prices. We can provide affordable homes. We could deal with the insurance industry if we wanted to. In my view, we can deal with the rising cost of food, but we have a Government that is indifferent.”
“Saying that, at the moment, it has very limited powers, that it is doing everything it can but it is not really making any difference is one thing, to which I would argue that we should get more powers and change the law, but it is entirely different if the Government is indifferent. People feel that the Government is indifferent to their needs and indifferent to the rising costs of insurance. Deputy Pearse Doherty had a Bill passed in this House which has still not been enacted by Government to deal with the rising cost of insurance. It seems to be the case in every area. When it comes to rents, the Opposition has put forward practical measures on how we can control rents, stop rent increases, and make sure the tax credit is much more generous than what the Government is doing.”
“I obviously support the asks in the motion. We have to look at mandatory price arrangements and transparency. We have to make sure there is absolute transparency when it comes to pricing of food right across the board. That is obvious, but it is not happening. We also have to look at how we force these multiples to reduce the cost of food and how we stop them from jacking up prices, which they are doing out of pure greed and pure profiteering. I simply do not accept that that is beyond the Government or beyond Parliament. I suspect the Government simply does not have the stomach for this. It does not have the political will to deal with it, and that is worse.”
“A Minister had a high-profile meeting with the main retailers about the price of groceries and food before the last election. He talked tough, stuck his chest out and said we are going to deal with this, then nothing happened. We have to look at what legal levers are there and what we can do. If those legal levers are not there, then we have to create them. If that means new legislation, that is what we have to do. Some of the profits have been outlined for some of these big multiples. They make billions of euro every year in profits. Prices go up which are unjustified in most circumstances and really hit hard-pressed families. As a State, Parliament and legislators, us throwing our hands up in the air and saying there is nothing we can do about it will not be and is not being accepted by people.”
“The Government is abandoning people who are hard pressed and cannot afford to pay basic bills. As previous speakers have said, far too many families are unfortunately sitting around the table in their homes, making decisions about what bill to pay or not to pay. As Deputy Gould said, in some circumstances, they may be purchasing food that is not the best food for their children but it is the cheapest food and they have no other option. I have lost count of the number of people who have raised this with me. We all see it. None of us is immune to it but we are well paid in this House. There are people who are on much less than us and are trying to make ends meet and pay all of the bills, and they are finding it impossible. While they are finding it impossible, they have a Government which is telling them there is nothing it will do.”
“Sorry, the Social Democrats. They have given us an opportunity to have this discussion. If you talk to anybody in the real world, the cost of living is one of the biggest issues impacting workers and families. People are paying huge amounts of money on mortgages, rents, childcare and insurance costs. Almost everything is going up. That includes the price of groceries and food. It seems everybody is aware of this with the exception of the Government. It is unbelievable to people that while prices are going up, the Government is setting its face against any cost-of-living package in the upcoming budget. It seems to be saying that it knows prices are going up but people are on their own and there is nothing it is going to do about it. That is outrageous.”
“It is saying the Act is the problem, as it created too much bureaucracy. It did not. It created a legal right that should have been vindicated. That is where we need to get to. It is not pie in the sky or overly aspirational to want all children with disabilities to be able to have appropriate school places and get the appropriate services they need. For far too many children, unfortunately, it is not happening.”
“In some cases, it might be all those things. That has a real impact on the child and on the family as well. The Minister's statement and the review talk about the EPSEN Act and bureaucratic problems in implementing all elements of it. The Minister also has to accept the failure of the State in resourcing disability services. Going back to the 2005 Act that provided a legal right to an assessment of need, the logic of that made sense. Each child would have an assessment that would basically identify the health and educational needs of that child. A plan for that child would then be set out and the Department would have to look at the aggregate needs of all children and provide the services. Of course, that never happened. Rather than acknowledge that failure, I see the Government making the Act itself the scapegoat for Government failure.”
“We have to make sure that we are continually improving access to services, putting the capacity into schools, and making sure that we have the type of appropriate school places I know the Minister of State believes every child should have. There have been several reviews over the last number of years. As my colleague said in his contribution, there has been review after review. The core of what we do has to be equality of access to education and, I would argue, services for each and every child. At the moment, that is not happening. Every child does not have equal access to a school place and certainly not to services. That can be frustrating for parents who have to battle time and again to access services. Sometimes, it is a school place or it might be an assessment of need, access to a therapy or whatever a child may need.”
“I welcome the review report. I also want to take the opportunity to thank the Minister of State for the work done to provide additional special classes in County Waterford. We had a number of debates in the House over the last number of months and the Minister of State committed to improving services. It has to be said, additional classes were made available. That was a very important development for many parents whose children will benefit from those classes. I thank the Minister of State for his engagement and delivery of those classes. We still have a long way to go. Unfortunately, there will still be some parents who will not have the appropriate school place for their children.”
“Our aim has to be high-quality care. To achieve high-quality care, there cannot be any hiding places. There has to be mandatory reporting, an automatic legal right of entry for social care teams, and statutory safeguarding legislation so there will be real muscle and power. We have done this for children, and rightly so, and we now need to do it for adults as well. It is long overdue. It is all well and good that the Government is saying a policy review will go to the Cabinet but it does not cut the mustard with respect to safeguarding legislation. Again, I appeal to the Minister of State to prioritise this. The health committee agreed today that I would become a rapporteur to consider what safeguarding legislation would look like. I hope that will be of use to the Minister of State as the Government prepares legislation.”
“According to the report, some residents with a history of behaviours which were a known safeguarding risk to other residents had measures documented to mitigate the risk but these measures had not always been effective and failed to protect residents from abuse. It states this finding was evidenced by “the continuance of physical and verbal peer-to-peer abuse incidents by a number of residents in the centre”. This shows in black and white, or in very stark terms, that we need safeguarding legislation for adults. Although I might sound like a broken record, I have to keep making that point because, from all the crises in care centres, disability centres and nursing homes, and potentially also in homes, where there can be abuses of older people, we realise we need to have the very highest and most robust protections.”