Dr. Siobhán Kennelly:

I refute it. As a matter of public record, I can show the Deputy evidence of the correspondence that myself and officials in the HSE issued through the system, in line with the public health advice and with colleagues from Infection Prevention and Control. It is very important to understand that we are in a very fast-moving situation when we are trying to address these issues. We were aware of the fact that we had approximately 670 delayed discharges in acute hospitals at that time.

One of the biggest concerns for me, both as a clinician and as a geriatrician who is very involved in the care of these patients, was that in the event of an anticipated surge in these acute hospitals, many of those who had finished their acute episodes of care would be at very high risk in terms of contracting Covid. Everything we did and all the guidance we issued - including the very comprehensive guidance that was issued again on 17 March regarding how patients would be cared for in nursing homes, regardless of whether they were in public or private facilities - was on the basis of the information we had and our understanding of the pandemic. In addition, there was a balancing of the risk for individual residents and how that risk would be managed by clinicians in acute hospitals and in long-term care settings.