Official casts doubt on nursing home document

THE consultant who investigated the Department of Health’s handling of nursing home charges yesterday said that a crucial briefing paper prepared for then Minister Micheál Martin was not conclusive on the illegality of the charges.

John Travers, the former head of Forfás, told the Oireachtas Committee on Health that the minister’s briefing for a meeting in December 2003 - where the legality of the charges were explicitly discussed at ministerial level for the first time - were not “determinate” on the illegality of the charges.

Mr Martin was late for the meeting and was not present when charges were discussed.

Neither the legal advice from the South Eastern Health Board, nor the briefing notes based on that advice, have been made available.

The main opposition spokespeople, Liam Twomey (FG); Liz McManus (Lab) and John Gormley (Greens) focused in on the meeting of December 16 when questioning Mr Travers yesterday.

All contended that the briefing notes and the discussion at the meeting should have alerted the three ministers in Health, Mr Martin, Ivor Callely, and Tim O’Malley, to the gravity of the issue. It should have also prompted an immediate response.

All three questioned why politicians had seemed to have escaped censure in the report.

However, Mr Travers strongly stood over the findings. “I did not see any significant material provided by officials of the department to the minister pointing out that charges levied for people in long-stay care over the years had been illegal,” he said.