Dáil debates

Tuesday, 6 July 2021

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Covid-19 Pandemic

9:55 pm

Photo of Ruairi Ó MurchúRuairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State and the Minister met these families. The Minister said that a mechanism was needed for these families to be able to get to the truth. I reiterate what Deputy O'Dowd has said. We need to lay out what these families have done through their freedom of information requests, the parliamentary questions we have tabled and through a great deal of interaction, negotiation and questioning of all the bodies from the HSE, CHO 8 and the RCSI Hospital Group. A huge amount of information is in the public domain. Ultimately, a tragedy occurred in Dealgan House nursing home with 23 deaths. It was a nursing home that the RSCI Hospital Group took under operational control because that was regarded as necessary. There is a disputed narrative. A mechanism is the only way we will get to the bottom of what happened and to learn what we need to learn to ensure this never happens again. Unfortunately there have been a number of these cases. The families need that mechanism. I am not particularly worried about the means. Deputy O'Dowd spoke of a commission of investigation but whatever means are necessary need to be used. There needs to be engagement with the families on the type of investigation and it must be one that will provide all the answers. We cannot have this situation continue on and on. The families have been very good. They accepted there were issues in December and January and following the ransomware attack but this needs to happen as soon as possible.

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