Age Action today said that it believed older people were still being abused in nursing homes three years after the Leas Cross scandal.
In a statement, the campaign group said: "It is three years since the nation were horrified to learn of the maltreatment of older people in Leas Cross and the Government promised swift action to prevent such abuses happening again.
"Three years later, we are still waiting for that action to be finalised. The human rights of older people continue to be abused in our nursing homes."
It has emerged that up to 50 complaints - some entailing serious cases of poor care, neglect and inadequate staffing - have been upheld against nursing homes in counties Cork and Kerry since 2005.
The complaints included incidents where the arm of a patient was fractured while in bed; people left dehydrated, and the non-treatment of pressure sores and ulcers. All the complaints were investigated by the Health Services Executive (HSE).
The information was obtained from the HSE under the Freedom of Information Act by Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd.
Mr O'Dowd said he had sent documents and files to the Irish Human Rights Commission, the Health Information Quality Authority (HIQA) and the Garda.
Leas Cross closed in August 2005 shortly after RTÉ's Prime Time Investigatessent an undercover journalist into the home and discovered serious problems. The home was later sold and has since reopened under new management and with a new name.
HIQA was given the task of drawing up new quality standards for nursing homes following the Leas Cross controversy.
In its statement today, Age Action added that it believed the 32 HIQA standards relating to nursing-home care need to be implemented in full within the next Dáil term, and that the HIQA should be allowed to start inspections of care institutions.
In March this year, the HIQA published the standards, aimed at safeguarding and protecting the rights of older people. Under them, all nursing homes in the private and public sector are subject to independent inspections.
"We also believe that . . . standards need to be strengthened in relation to the ratio between professional staff and residential numbers. . . . All staff providing care to older people needs to be trained to a sufficient and nationally recognised standard," Age Action added.
