Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It is similar to the issue that Deputy O'Dowd raised earlier. I would hope to have a public inquiry into the response to Covid up and running this year, ideally by the middle of the year, but it needs to be scoped out. It will be extensive. It could go on for quite some time. We are keen to get it right. I extend my profound sympathy to the families of people who died in nursing homes. Covid was a difficult time for all of us, but particularly hard for those who could not mourn their loved ones properly or be by their side during their last days. We need to recognise that in the vast majority of cases, if not all cases, people working in and managing nursing homes did their best in what was an unprecedented scenario. There was no handbook as to how one manages a pandemic. I believe that in almost all cases, people did the best they could.

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