The Labour Party has called for the immediate publication of the report into deaths at the Leas Cross nursing home in north Co Dublin.
Sean Ryan: Standards at some nursing homes still
It emerged in the Dáil last week that the independent report into the deaths has been completed, but Minister for Health Mary Harney said she had not yet received a copy.
Today marks the first anniversary of the broadcast of the Prime Time Investigatestelevision programme, which revealed serious lapses at the nursing home.
Labour's spokesperson on older person issues, Sean Ryan, also said it was unacceptable that, one year on, the Nursing Homes Inspectorate promised in the wake of the programme was still not established.
"How are we ever going to learn the lessons of Leas Cross if one year own from the television exposé we do not yet have the observations, conclusions and recommendations of the report commissioned to investigate the scandal?" said Mr Ryan.
"Moreover, it now seems that any legislation to facilitate the establishment of the much needed Nursing Homes Inspectorate will be rolled into the Health Information and Quality Authority Bill to be published next week.
"This is not what was either promised nor is required. There are many nursing homes that are well run, where patients are well treated in a caring environment, but we also know from the limited inspections that do take place that there are many more where standards fall as lamentably short as those that were revealed at Leas Cross," Mr Ryan said.