Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending. I find this process very frustrating, not least the rulings that we get that we cannot talk about this or that, or that this is subject to legal action and that is not. It really does hamper us in doing our job in trying to scrutinise what is going on. I note the witness is nodding his head. I am sure the witnesses are used to this and that they get plenty of it. Legalities hamper the truth coming out. In this case, we are going to have to find a way to get at the truth.

I found the report alarming because it skirts around a number of key issues. In one sense, HIQA is saying these issues are jumping out at us, such as the largely privatised nature of our nursing home sector and the care of our elderly being the subject of profits for lots of companies. However, at no stage does the report point to that as a problem. One of the starkest figures in everything I have come across is that 56% of all deaths during Covid took place in nursing homes while that setting represents only 0.65% of the total living population. This alarming figure and the lack of pointing the finger at what has gone on means that we do need a public inquiry into everything that happened. I have been adamant that I want that inquiry to take place into all the deaths and all the decisions taken in each case, particularly not to move residents to acute hospital settings. In that light, I want to mention the grandmother of Florence O'Shaughnessy, who has written to us all. She was taken care of in a nursing home in Dublin that I am not allowed mention.