Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Taoiseach to clarify the role of GPs in providing certification on either recovery or vaccination because multiple positions have been put into the public domain. We need clarity from the Taoiseach on that matter.

Sinn Féin will later bring before the Dáil a motion in support of families' calls for the Government to establish a public inquiry into the neglect and deaths of their loved ones in nursing homes during the pandemic. By May of last year, nearly 1,000 nursing home residents had died from Covid but when the third wave hit in January of this year, the hard lessons still had not been learned. Twenty-one residents in Ballynoe nursing home in Cork died from Covid in the first two months of this year. A HIQA report following an unannounced visit in January to Cahercalla nursing home in County Clare described management's response to an outbreak of Covid as "chaotic and disorganised". The home failed on every point of inspection in that report. Last year, I met with families of those who died from Covid in Dealgan House Nursing Home. They have raised their concerns with politicians and all of the statutory bodies over the past year.

Nursing home staff are to be commended on the care they have provided throughout this pandemic but it is clear that the sector requires urgent reform. The current system of oversight is simply not working and this has cost lives. Sinn Féin's motion reflects the serious shortfalls in care, governance, safeguarding and investment that have been starkly exposed over the past 16 months. It also sets out the remedies and solutions needed to provide residents with the care and protection they need and to which they are entitled. I call on the Taoiseach and his Government colleagues to support the motion, establish a public inquiry and put in place the regulatory and safeguarding protections so urgently needed.

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