Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Reid stated in his opening statement that the HSE did not have the opportunity of a dress rehearsal to plan and manage the crisis and I believe everyone accepts that it was an unprecedented pandemic that bore down on our country. As we all know it bore down most heavily on our older population. Due to the fact that 64% of the 1,710 deaths - and we offer our condolences and sympathies to all those families - took place in residential settings including nursing homes, care homes and other residential facilities does Mr. Reid now accept that the wrong approach was taken in transferring patients in March and April, at the height of the pandemic, to nursing homes without testing them? Nothing will convince me that this was anything other than the wrong approach. The more I hear sitting in this committee for the past month and the more documentation we receive, the more I am convinced that this was the wrong approach. As we prepare for a possible resurgence of the pandemic does Mr. Reid stand over this approach and will the HSE take the same one if we have a resurgence?