David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our two witnesses. I again thank both of them and their staff for their service in what is still a difficult and challenging time. I commend Mr. Reid for his commitment to look at changes in protecting older vulnerable people. This might come down the track. If there are positive changes, he will certainly have the support of my party.

I want to ask some questions of Mr. Breslin on the nursing home sector generally.

This is not about a blame game. This is about whether, during the months of February and March, there was a comprehensive plan in place to protect older people, and it is about who should have been or was responsible for it. Is Mr. Breslin satisfied there was a plan in place for nursing homes to ensure the very highest levels of care and protection for older people in February and March? Is he satisfied, as head of the Department, that there was such a plan in place?