John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses mentioned HIQA and the private homes sector. I suggest that the committee looks for a report on some of the outstanding issues that cannot be answered by the witnesses present.

As this is obviously a fraught situation for everyone, I want to thank people for their work at the front line. I thank the nursing home staff and management who I imagine in the vast majority of cases are doing their absolute best. As it is clearly exceptionally challenging, I really want to express my thanks. I believe there are four nursing homes in my constituency. All are privately run. This may change after this meeting but I have not had overt criticisms or challenges to the manner in which they have been run.

I have several questions. We were given a percentage of residents who died Covid-related deaths in nursing homes. How many can the HSE say died with Covid, as opposed to from Covid? An elderly relative of mine died in a nursing home. She had a number of conditions but Covid in the last 48 hours was on the death certificate. Has the HSE any statistics on that?