Opposition parties were criticised by Minister for Health Mary Harney for failing to make submissions on the Health Bill.
She said she had published the heads of the Bill in March, and got 70 submissions in the three months it was open to public consultation. "I did not get a single submission from the parties opposite. Not one came forward."
Ms Harney said the Health Bill was the centrepiece of the Government's reform programme. The draft heads took up 122 pages.
She was replying to a Fine Gael-Labour private member's motion calling for the establishment of a patient-safety authority. Details of the proposal had been announced at a press conference earlier.
Describing the motion as well-intentioned, Ms Harney said the proposals were largely contained in, and indeed borrowed from, the draft heads of the Health Bill.
On the call for a new agency, the Minister said the Health Information and Quality Authority was, in fact, already in existence on an interim basis.
Its board was carrying out preparatory work for its role on a statutory basis, and had recruited "a top class" chief executive.
She said the Bill would provide for the first time for the office of the chief inspector of social services, with specific statutory responsibilities for the registration and inspection of all nursing home places, both public and private.
The inspector would also inspect residential centres for children and people with disabilities.
The new regime relating to nursing homes would be "stronger and more robust" to ensure that standards of care, not just standards of buildings, were met.
The Bill, said Ms Harney, would also strengthen and modernise the registration and deregistration process.
