The Deputy Prime Minister informed the Dáil that staff caught on camera by undercover care workers in the RTÉ Investigates nursing homes exposé should be reported to the police for what he termed as 'physical assault'.

During the Dáil session, Labour TD Marie Sherlock brought up concerns about the quality of care provided to older individuals in the country. She inquired about safe staffing levels, which are currently not specified by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).

Deputy Harris emphasized the need for personal accountability, pointing out that there are laws against assault. He suggested that the incidents captured on camera should be reported to the police as they depicted 'disturbing scenes of individuals, in my opinion, being physically assaulted in their own homes'. He stressed the importance of investigating those responsible for such actions.

Moreover, Deputy Harris mentioned that HIQA also had its own set of questions to answer and expressed his approval that they would be meeting with the Minister for Health. On the other hand, Deputy Sherlock from the Labour party criticized the exploitation of nursing home care by large corporations to maximize profits. She highlighted the high staff turnover rate in private nursing homes, which was at 54% in 2022, surpassing that of the childcare sector.

She questioned the Deputy Prime Minister on whether he was comfortable with the dominance of big businesses in the nursing home sector in Ireland. She also pointed out that 20% of smaller nursing homes had shut down between 2020 and 2022, indicating that smaller facilities were being edged out of the market. Mr. Harris acknowledged the overreliance of the State on the private market for nursing home services and mentioned the establishment of a Commission on Care to address this issue.

He stressed the necessity of enacting safeguarding legislation and revealed that a bill would be presented to the Cabinet for approval in the coming month.