Opposition: The Opposition parties yesterday strongly criticised the Government for failing to introduce a tough inspection regime for nursing homes following the RTÉ revelations on Leas Cross.
Fine Gael frontbench spokesman Fergus O'Dowd said that despite the horror of Leas Cross and the gruesome scenes shown on Prime Time, the Government has failed to deliver on the promises made in the immediate aftermath for a new inspectorate and national standards.
Mr O'Dowd also criticised the approach of the HSE to its inspectorate regime and its apparent denial that its system was failing.
"It is astonishing that the HSE can so easily dismiss the failure of the inspection regime to identify serious defects in Leas Cross," he said.
"Had the HSE been asked about Leas Cross prior to the Prime Time programme, it probably would have given the response that it was working well in improving standards."
Mr O'Dowd said legislation to allow for an inspectorate was first promised by the then minister of state, Tom Moffat, in the Dáil in 2001.
He said if Minister for Health Mary Harney delivers on her promise to have legislation through the Dáil by next Easter, two years will have already passed after the Leas Cross case was first highlighted.
He said it was notable that neither Ms Harney nor HSE chief executive Brendan Drumm was present at the launch of the report yesterday.
"They have been ducking and diving on this," he told The Irish Times last night.
The Labour Party's spokeswoman on health, Liz McManus, said that legislating for the report's main recommendations was the only way to protect elderly people from the type of mistreatment, humiliation, and abuse witnessed in Leas Cross.
Calling on the Government to immediately legislate for the report's main recommendations, she said the report was "a damning assessment" of the systematic failure of the Government, health boards and professional authorities to protect elderly residents.
"Moreover, the report clearly states that Leas Cross was not a one-off and that similar conditions existed in nursing homes elsewhere in Ireland."
Labour's spokesman on older persons, Seán Ryan, described the report as one of the most damning indictments in recent history.
He said the most startling aspect was that the Government and the authorities could have intervened earlier to have the Leas Cross home investigated and closed, as many complaints had been made about it over many years.
The Green Party's health spokesman, John Gormley, said the report made for "distressing reading" and was a "damning indictment of the Fianna Fáil/PD position on for-profit care".
He said it confirmed the pitiful state of nursing homes in Ireland. "Once healthcare and the care of the elderly become commodities, the door is immediately opened to abuse - particularly when the necessary safeguards are not in place."
Mr Gormley added: "Mary Harney and her predecessor Micheál Martin cannot wash their hands of this.
"All of this has happened on their watch and they have to carry the can.
"Minister Harney has announced her regret and proclaimed to be shocked by Professor O'Neill's findings, but more shocking is her continued inability to put in place safeguards to prevent such despicable and inhumane treatment of the most vulnerable members of society."