Martin Daly: €750,000 Care Bill Exposes State Failings
Martin Daly addresses the committee to press for stronger safeguarding legislation after repeated failures in care. He thanks Safeguarding Ireland and the Irish Association of Social Workers and highlights a HIQA report showing serious neglect of a young man in state-funded care.
What was said
Martin Daly warns that while the state sees cost as a barrier to reform, the human rights of people in care must be the primary concern. He told the Committee that volunteer advocates and professional bodies have been filling gaps while coordination between authorities remains unclear.
Volunteer effort and recognised neglect
Daly praised the work of Safeguarding Ireland and the Irish Association of Social Workers, noting significant volunteer time spent advocating for people who need protection. He described a specific HIQA finding into neglect and the difficulties the young man’s family have faced in dealing with the HSE.
Gaps in the system and wider consequences
Daly argued the real cost of inaction is greater than immediate budgetary concerns: repeated scandals, siloed responsibilities, and unclear crossover in responses to neglect, abuse and bullying damage public trust and increase long-term costs. He called for proper coordination, compassionate care and clearer accountability in state-funded services.
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I could just follow up with that and support Deputy Colin Annan and what he says, and just to thank Safeguarding Ireland and the Irish Association of Social Workers. There's a significant degree of volunteerism, Safeguarding Ireland, but people are giving up significant portions of their time in order to advocate for people who need this legislation and need this protection. And I suppose just to reflect, sometimes the state is slow to move because they see a cost to all of this. And other than the cost, which is obviously fundamental, which is the human rights of the people who require safeguarding legislation and that protection, the cost anyway is enormous if the state continues to allow itself to be exposed to repeated scandals. And what became clear from the nursing home scandal and other scandals is that there are individual authorities who have siloed responsibility, but the crossover and the coordination of the response to cases of neglect, abuse, course control, bullying are not clear. And I have a situation where I have a HICWA report for one young man who's in care and it is costing the state a lot of money and is the victim of significant neglect, which has been recognised by HICWA, and his parents have hit a stone wall when they come up against the HSE. I brought the case to the floor of the Dáil and there is a response going on now, but it's simply not good enough. If we take the human piece out of it, the state is paying significant funding for his care, €750,000 a year, the least we can expect is proper, compassionate care for that young man and care of his parents as well because they are part of the equation.
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