Neglect of older people 'totally unacceptable', says Minister

Minister for Older People Aine Brady has said that the abuse and neglect of older people uncovered in last night's 'Prime Time' programme is totally unacceptable, very upsetting and most disappointing.

The programme has prompted many calls for urgent regulation of the home care sector and the HSE is now conducting a review into the standard of care currently being provided to more than 60,000 home care clients.

Minister Brady says older people should not be alarmed by what they saw last night as in the vast majority of cases home care has allowed elderly people live independently in their own homes.

She also said that some of her comments about regulation were taken out of context.

"The comments that I made last night that regulation wasn’t the only answer to this was completely taken out of context," she said.

"I made the point that the key issue between the care provider and the recipient is trust, and any breach of that trust is unacceptable."