Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I want to pick up on something the Minister said. What has happened in nursing homes has been one of the most heartbreaking aspects of this whole crisis. The most vulnerable have been the most exposed. They make up the majority of those who have lost their lives to Covid-19. Yesterday, I raised the issue of the nursing home in Galway at which 26 of the 28 residents tested positive for Covid-19. I quoted the information that I got to the effect that the director of nursing stated the HSE was not listening. The HSE's first response was that the home should get agency staff. The nursing home found that there were just none available. While the HSE did send somebody, it did not send hands-on help for the nursing home. In the words of the staff, the HSE did not provide boots on the ground. As an Opposition Deputy, it was my duty to criticise this event owing to what happened in the first half of the year. I criticised the fact that the then Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and the current Minister both refused to investigate the Government's handling of the nursing home crisis at the start of the year. In my contribution, I also criticised the fact that both Ministers, the Department, HIQA and the HSE have refused to investigate the case of Mary Bartley Meehan, a constituent of mine, given how tragically her husband died. I also raised the fact that the Ombudsman has articulated his frustration over not having the ability to investigate clinical decisions made in nursing homes. These are all fair and genuine criticisms.

I made reference to the comments of Deputy O'Dowd and the Minister. The Minister repeated what he said today. I heard him say that the nursing homes are private businesses, private organisations. In some ways, he is washing his hands of responsibility for them. He is erecting a paper wall to prevent responsibility leaking into his area. The truth is that those affected are all citizens of this country. We are all responsible for them, whether they are in a private nursing home or a public one. The truth is that these elderly people are in a private nursing home because the Government has been derelict in its duty to provide the necessary public spaces for them over time. The Minister is entitled to deflect the criticism but the manner in which he did so is completely odious. He stated earlier that we were criticising the workers in the nursing homes and that he was standing up for them and defending their actions. That is the furthest thing from the truth because we were actually criticising the Government's handling of the nursing homes issue. Trying to twist the matter to say we are criticising the staff in the nursing homes is simply outsourcing responsibility again. It is absolutely wrong and the Minister should withdraw what he said earlier.

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