The Social Services Inspectorate still does not have power to inspect nursing homes almost 18 months after Health Minister Mary Harney promised to establish an independent inspectorate for older people.

Fine Gael TD Fergus O'Dowd again this weekend criticised the government for its delay in dealing with the Leas Cross experience. "There are other Leas Crosses out there now which is shameful.

"Without the promised, statutory, independent inspectorate, it's very hard to get to the bottom of it. Eighteen month after Leas Cross, not all nursing homes are being inspected, " O'Dowd said.

In a report on Leas Cross, which was published last Friday, Professor Des O'Neill concluded that his review was "consistent with a finding of institutional abuse". He said that it "would be a very major error to presume that the deficits in care shown in Leas Cross represent an isolated incident."

The O'Neill Reportwas commissioned following an RTE programme in May 2005 which exposed high levels of abuse at Leas Cross. The report is highly critical of the poor regulation and inspection of nursing homes.

Legislation to set up an independent inspectorate was first promised 18 years ago in the 1988 strategy for older people, The Years Ahead.

This commitment was reiterated in the 1994 health strategy, Shaping a Healthier Future and again in the 2001 health strategy document, Quality and Fairness.

The Fianna Fail-PD coalition has a long record of missed deadlines in relation to an independent inspectorate.

In August 2005 Minister Harney promised that legislation to set up an independent inspectorate would be passed by the Dail by the end of 2005.

The HSE admitted last week that it will now be at least another year before all nursing homes are assessed by an independent inspectorate with statutory powers. When asked last week about current powers for inspecting nursing homes, Aidan Browne of the HSE said, "it's easier to close kitchens in nursing homes than nursing homes themselves".

Browne is the most senior manager in the health services with responsibility for care for older people. He explained that legislation was needed so that there were greater powers of inspection and acknowledged that currently there are variations in quality of care being provided in nursing homes across the country.

According the HSE all private nursing homes are currently being inspected.

However, older people's lobby groups such as Age Action and the Senior Citizens Parliament are critical of these inspections as they are being carried out by the same health services which allowed the abuse to continue in Leas Cross.

At the moment, the inspection of public nursing homes is not required by law. The HSE has reviewed its inspection procedures and has allocated more staff time, resources and funding to the inspection process.