Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Minister that families need the truth. Does he agree they also need accountability and closure? The fact is 23 of these thousands of deaths in Ireland happened in a nursing home the HSE took over. Exceptional issues arose in Dealgan House that drove the HSE to move in and take it over. There was a complete collapse of the system there, including healthcare and governance. There was an appeal at one stage to bring in the Army.

The Minister cannot sit there and deny that if these were children, we would have had our inquiry by now. That is a fact. It seems that because these were older people and because many of them would had dementia and were probably in the end stage of life, somehow this does not matter to the Government. It must matter. The Minister must find a way. We spent billions of euro fighting Covid, rightly and properly, but he has spent nothing on investing in finding a solution to this issue. What he is saying today is what he said to me previously on at least two other occasions. He has to take charge of this. He has to act. The families are entitled to closure, respect and truth from the Government.

See this speech in context