Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It has been announced that residents in hospitals and nursing homes will be allowed to receive one visit per week. I understand that this is to protect them and other residents but we are now eight months into this pandemic; is there nothing more that we can do to ensure that families can see their parents, children or siblings who may be in hospitals? The issue of antigen testing and the screening opportunities it provides was discussed by EU leaders, including the Taoiseach, in November. Surely people who are willing to undergo regular testing or screening, as healthcare staff do, should be able to visit elderly or young relatives in hospitals or nursing homes or to accompany elderly relatives to tests. I recall bringing my late father to a test in University Hospital Limerick and we had to walk for literally kilometres. He would not have been able to do that alone, and he was not unique in that. We need to allow for a degree of humanity in our healthcare system.

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