Hiqa asks RTÉ for all nursing home documentary footage

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

RTÉ has said it will not hand over non-broadcast footage to The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) without a statutory obligation or legal order.

Hiqa said it has asked the national broadcaster to provide all footage it captured in the making of an RTÉ Investigates documentary into standards of care at two nursing homes.

The programme highlighted serious issues at two centres – The Residence Portlaoise and Beneavin Manor in Glasnevin, Dublin – which have been acknowledged as “wholly unjustifiable” by Emeis Ireland.

Hiqa, which is responsible for inspecting nursing homes, said it had notified gardai about its concerns arising from the programme.

The authority’s chief executive, Angela Fitzgerald, told the Health Committee on Wednesday: “We’ve also asked RTÉ to give us all of the footage because they have, maybe, more information than we currently have.

“We also need to be able to see it, because we need to make sure that every resident, not just the ones that were on the screen, are safe.

“And they have agreed to cooperate with us and hopefully they will be able to provide the information we need.”

In her written submission to the same committee, Ms Fitzgerald said that RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst confirmed that the broadcaster “will assist us in whatever way they can”.

Asked about the comments, a spokeswoman for RTÉ confirmed it was engaging with Hiqa – which is due to request a meeting with the documentary team.

However, she said: “Any assistance provided by RTÉ will be referenced by our own guidelines, safeguards, protocols and procedures.

“RTÉ does not hand non-broadcast footage to third parties without a statutory obligation or legal order.”

She added: “Hiqa have now confirmed they have referred incidents evidenced in the RTÉ programme to An Garda Síochána.”