Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I extend my sympathies to her cousin on her loss and I thank the Deputy for sharing the text message. I can only imagine what a traumatic time this must be. I understand what the Deputy is saying and I do not want to show a graph or a chart or be cold in my response. These are valid questions. However, I note that the first cluster in a nursing home occurred on 16 March. The first case in Ireland was 29 February.

People are now looking back to January and February as though there was a knowledge and understanding of this virus when perhaps there simply was not one here or in many other places. I heard the Minister of State, Jim Daly, say there should have been a plan, but there was and there is. There is a national plan, for starters, but on top of that national standards for infection prevention and control of antimicrobial stewardship for nursing homes were published and adopted in September 2018 that every nursing home in the country is meant to adhere to. There was a meeting with Paul Reid, the HSE CEO, on Covid preparedness on 19 February and a meeting with the Minister of State on 28 February-----

See this speech in context