Nursing home charges statement
Mary Lou McDonald challenged the Taoiseach over nursing home charges and urged a comprehensive statement on his actions. The Ceann Comhairle cut her off for time, and she continued to press that senior figures had questions to answer.
It is not agreed. The Attorney General has published his report. There is nothing terribly surprising in it but it is disingenuous of the Taoiseach to describe the treatment of vulnerable citizens as merely an historical phenomenon. The political choices that were made by successive governments are very much contemporary. The Attorney General has set out the legal stall from his point of view. I have a question for the Taoiseach, however.
Will he, this week, avail of the opportunity to make a comprehensive statement about his actions and political decisions regarding nursing home charges and disabled persons? Likewise, will his colleagues in government the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, the Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris, the Minister without Portfolio, Deputy McEntee, and his predecessor as Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly, make themselves available to the Houses of the Oireachtas to explain the political decisions, which in the end are what all of this is about? The Attorney General advises-----
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-----and members of the Cabinet decide. The Taoiseach has very significant questions to answer on these matters from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and, let it be said, others, including those within the Labour Party.