David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Page 36 of the report refers to the experience of staff. It states:

Most inspectors recounted stories of management and staff becoming overwhelmed with emotion when speaking about how they managed during the pandemic. Some exhibited signs of extreme stress, fatigue, exhaustion and anxiety in trying to come to terms with what was happening around them.

With regard to residents, the report states that residents were often fearful, confused, angry, frustrated and lonely. It is harrowing to read that in print. I can only imagine what it must have been like to hear at first hand the stories of those residents and that sense of loneliness, fear and isolation, and, I imagine, the sense of being let down by the system. Can HIQA understand the deep frustration that many families feel with inaction and failures, as some would see it, in some nursing homes with regard to issues such as standards, infection control measures and PPE?