Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will raise that with the Minister in the Dáil or by parliamentary question. I welcome his comments.

Two issues that have upset me the most, most of my constituents and indeed most of the country. One concerns the man and his stepson ,both of whom lived in Kilbrew nursing home and both of whom died. We heard the appalling description of the maggots on the poor man's face and the way he was treated. That case cries out for justice. I understand the Minister is talking about other inquiries but I believe that he needs to appoint urgently a qualified professional to look into Kilbrew nursing home as a matter of extreme urgency. I know there were other deaths there. It requires a qualified person. Professor Des O'Neill did the Leas Cross nursing home report some years ago. It needs to be done. What I understand happened at Kilbrew nursing home is absolutely unacceptable. Part of the inquiry has to be into the correspondence between Sage Advocacy and HIQA. There were three or four notices of concern issued to them directly about this family. It is just appalling.

The second issue, which I asked about at this morning's session with the HSE, concerns the deaths in Dealgan House nursing home, which had the highest number of deaths in County Louth. For three months, half of the deaths in the county were in Dealgan House. Families are extremely upset. A report was done by HIQA but they have not had sight of it. They are not getting answers from the HSE or from the Department of Health. In their view, there is obfuscation and delays. They have spent hundreds of euro on freedom of information requests to try to get to the truth as to why the Department and HIQA, due to what they found, put the Royal College of Surgeons hospitals group in to run that nursing home. These people have lost family members and are traumatised by their deaths. They are deeply frustrated at the bureaucracy they have encountered. I ask the Minister the same question I put to Mr. Paul Reid this morning. Will he meet those families to listen to their issues? Will he appoint a competent and qualified person to look specifically at what happened in that nursing home on the particular grounds that he, the Department and the HSE had put in a special team to manage the home? One of the issues raised was that the majority of staff who worked there were unable to be on duty. Patients died. There is evidence that the HSE was aware of the fact that a significant number of workers were absent due to illness and other reasons, and while the executive gave assurances that it was acting, there was a delay of at least four or five days when a lot of people would have caught Covid-19 as a result. It is a very serious issue and I would appreciate the Minister's comments on it please.