Last Friday Professor O'Neill's report was published on the Leas Cross nursing home where more than 105 people died. It stated that no judgment had been formed where there is a difference of opinion. This is not to say nobody made a judgment; it is a handy, catch-all stating no judgment has been formed.

Opinions differed and patients died, all on the watch of this Government. They were mistreated, neglected and they died. In China this is called human rights abuse, here it is called systems failure. The Government is supposed to prevent such occurrences, never mind stop them. The Departments responsible in this case came, saw, read, watched and knew, yet did nothing. They are still doing nothing. We heard about the industrial schools and how this could never happen again, but it has and, according to the report, it could be happening elsewhere around the country.

In fact, the only thing that has changed is time because, on the evidence of the report, we have merely swapped institutional abuse of our young for institutional abuse of our aged, which is a national scandal. Stopping this requires a Government that takes action because it has first taken responsibility. This means naming Ministers and public servants who must take responsibility and be accountable.

Wrongs were not merely done and systems did not merely fail; people carried out those wrongs. On the Taoiseach's and the Government's watch we have failed the elderly and continue to do so. This is not only about money, as the Taoiseach knows, it is about lives. Is there anyone to blame? Is there anyone on the Government side of the House who will accept any modicum of responsibility or accountability for what we witnessed, knew and saw on our television screens as exposed by Deputy O'Dowd, "Prime Time" and others?

The Health Service Executive, HSE, has shown no accountability. It suggested, if one read the report and the submissions, there is no evidence people did anything wrong. The evidence is that a combination of factors came together resulting in a wrong outcome. That is some indictment.

I ask the Taoiseach, as Head of Government, for his opinion on this. Who does he think is responsible and accountable and what does he intend to do about it?

We have discussed the Leas Cross report by Professor Desmond O'Neill for a considerable time and I am glad it has been published. It has identified many deficiencies in the standard of care for older people in that nursing home and in the actions required to uphold those standards. The deficiencies in care are deeply upsetting to the families of those who died in the Leas Cross nursing home and to many others also. The Government understands their distress and will lead the legislative actions and funding decisions to ensure high standards of care are upheld in all nursing homes, public and private, in the State. We have been doing so for some years in fact and there are legislative issues that need to be significantly strengthened, as I said last year when these issues came to light. We know from Professor O'Neill's report and other earlier reports that complaints and warnings were not given the attention they warranted. This is a matter of deep regret.

Professor O'Neill did not engage in an exercise in blame, nor did he recommend disciplinary action but some people involved have challenged his assessment. The report has been sent to the Garda and the Medical Council for their consideration because matters arise that must be examined.

Our priority, as Deputy Kenny asked, is to prevent such events occurring again. The Government is finalising its work on the health Bill 2006, with a view to publication this session. This legislation will create a thorough and robust system of inspections and establish, for the first time, a statutory office of the chief inspector of the social services within the health information and quality authority, which will have specific statutory responsibilities for the registration and inspection of all nursing home places, both public and private. The chief inspector will inspect homes against the regulations governing them and standards set by the HIQA.

The Bill will also strengthen and modernise the registration and deregistration process. New standards for all long-term residential care facilities for older people have already been prepared. The Minister for Health and Children published the draft heads of the Bill, a 122-page document, in the spring. We received dozens of submissions following publication and the valuable comments received have informed the Government's work on the Bill. I will not go through the long list of submissions received from different bodies and groups.

The nursing home regulations, under which the Health Service Executive carries out inspections of private nursing homes, were introduced in 1994. They will be replaced by the new regulations to be made under the proposed legislation, with the objective of strengthening the standards of care for residents in nursing homes.

As I have said on this issue on many occasions, it is a matter of deep regret that these events took place. It is even more regrettable that warnings were not heeded. It is now our task to deal with the issues and I have outlined how we propose to do this.

The Taoiseach continues to defend the actions of the Health Service Executive arising from the O'Neill report into the Leas Cross nursing home. Does he accept that anybody on the Government side has responsibility for this matter? Did the former or current Ministers for Health and Children, Deputies Martin and Harney, respectively, or the former or current Ministers of State at the Department, Deputies Callely and Seán Power, respectively, know anything about Leas Cross? Is there any evidence in the Department that any of this quartet of Ministers knew anything about it given that information appeared to be available far in advance of the "Prime Time Investigates" programme?

The Taoiseach referred to legislative action. The HIQA is all about process. Is the Taoiseach prepared to accept a proposal, published by the Fine Gael and Labour parties today, to establish an over-arching patient safety authority? Such a body would change the culture and ethos and make the patient the real centre of attention in the health system. I am concerned by evidence suggesting that the problems described by Professor O'Neill may well be continuing in other places.

The Taoiseach defended the HSE, which has stated it is implementing all of Professor O'Neill's recommendations. This is patently untrue and what is happening is wrong. On 21 June, Professor O'Neill recommended: "Residents (and their families) of any nursing homes that scored poorly in the ERHA tendering process in 2005 for Heavy Dependency/Intermediate Care Beds should be informed of this as a matter of some urgency, as there is a high likelihood that there are residents with high or maximum dependency in all of these nursing homes." The HSE indicated it was implementing this recommendation but we learn today that it has ignored it since last June and refuses to implement it. Is this not another example of the system coming before the individual and the process being more important than the patient? Is it a case of finding a reason for not putting the interests of patients and families first? Is it not time this function was removed from the HSE and a patient safety authority was established and given an over-arching remit in which the patient, as distinct from the process, systems, analyses and the blather in which the HSE is engaged, is the central focus?

As I stated, old people were maltreated, neglected and died. Did four Ministers in the Taoiseach's Government have any knowledge of this matter? Given the difference of opinion on the issue, will anybody accept responsibility or be held accountable for the fact that 105 people died in Leas Cross nursing home?

I will not try to rewrite or argue about Professor Desmond O'Neill's report. We asked Professor O'Neill to produce this report and he has presented it. It would not be helpful for any of us to state he did or did not say this or that or should have said something else. He has presented his report and does not get into the blame game or recommend disciplinary action.

Deputy Kenny asked whether Ministers or senior people in the HSE, most of whom were not even in place when this issue emerged because the executive had just been set up, knew what was happening or were involved. For me to be critical of the people who are now trying to rectify these issues would be totally groundless.

God forbid anyone would be held accountable.

If Deputy Kenny is asking me, as he almost implied was the case, whether people were totally negligent, did not care about what was happening to the elderly or treated matters as of no concern to them——

They were incompetent.

——or whether they were incompetent, I do not believe that the senior people in the then health boards were responsible for that.

What about the former Ministers, Deputies Martin and Callely?

The Taoiseach is entitled to be heard without interruption. Seven minutes are available for each leader's question. The leader of the Fine Gael Party has already used seven minutes. The least the Taoiseach is entitled to is to be heard without interruption.

As I said, the report has been submitted to the Garda and the Medical Council for their consideration and both bodies are examining it.

Pass the buck.

Deputy Kenny believes the legislation and procedures are process and a waste of time.

He did not say that.

That is what he said. He said it was blather, process and useless.

We are endeavouring to deal with this situation and there is no need to repeat what I have said in this regard. This was a horror for the families and relatives and we must now put a system in place.

The Taoiseach has been in power for nine years.

It is not just a process. Legislation will provide, for the first time, for the establishment of a statutory office of a chief inspector for social services with statutory responsibilities for the registration and inspection of all nursing home places, both public and private. The chief inspector will inspect the homes against the regulations governing them and standards which will be set in law.

As legislation goes, the Act is not old. It was passed only 12 years ago but requires to be modernised. New standards for the long-term residential care of people have already been prepared and the relevant legislation will shortly be before the House.

Resources for older people were mentioned in the report. We are spending €1.2 billion and we will continue to increase funding substantially this year, which is almost over, and in 2007. The new funding scheme has brought the budget for the nursing home subventions scheme to €160 million this year. Only a small amount was available for this scheme when we started it. We have also trebled the number of home care packages to more than 3,000. These special care packages started only five years ago and we have increased funding for them to €142 million.