Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Does the Taoiseach agree with Dr. Jack Lambert that we have a national emergency in our nursing homes and that leaving individual private nursing homes to be responsible for staffing regimes, infection control and supply of PPE, as the HSE guidelines have done, was a "huge disaster"? Does the Taoiseach agree that it is part of a process of privatisation and of not having nursing homes as part of a national health service, and that the agency staff being underpaid and living in overcrowded accommodation while working in multiple homes is a factor in that?

Finally, will the Taoiseach agree that the Government should provide a procedure for workers in residential care facilities to confidentially report breaches of HSE guidelines to HIQA, and does he agree that the HSE guidelines should be augmented in order that staff will not live in overcrowded accommodation or rotate between different residential care facilities?

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