Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

More than half of the 2,460 people who have died with Covid-19 in the State died in nursing homes. In December, two thirds of the deaths that occurred were due to outbreaks in nursing home and hospital settings. Outbreaks in nursing homes doubled to 52 just last week, while cases of Covid-19 in nursing homes increased by 500%. The latter gave rise to 24 deaths in the past week alone. God rest each of those individuals. Currently, there are 800 staff missing from nursing homes across the sector. The issue is so critical that some nursing homes are texting family members of residents and asking them to come in and help. The people who are most vulnerable to Covid-19 have been the most exposed.

At the start of the pandemic, the then Minister, Deputy Harris, launched the Be On Call for Ireland campaign. Some 70,000 people responded, but only 200 were employed. I have taken dozens of calls from medical professionals who applied but who were never employed. There are many newspaper reports about people who applied but were not employed.

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