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

Later this year there will be a look-back independent inquiry into the State's handling of the pandemic. How will nursing home deaths be dealt with? I encourage the Taoiseach to meet families whose loved ones died during the pandemic. These include families from Dealgan House or Ballynoe nursing home in Whites Cross. They will tell a story of systemic institutional failure that resulted in an absence of oversight, governance, accountability and training, and inadequate staff ratios. Care Champions has catalogued the families' experiences and I strongly urge the Taoiseach to hear of them and from them. More than 3,000 submissions of concern were made to HIQA between 2020 and 2022 regarding nursing homes. These failures continue as families are still being refused access to their parents' or their partners' nursing home records, which is inexplicable to me. Does the Taoiseach agree these records should be released? Will he meet representatives of Care Champions and the bereaved families to better understand why a public inquiry into nursing home deaths during the Covid pandemic is absolutely needed?

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