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

I welcome the commitment the Taoiseach has reiterated this morning. The fact is that 24 residents died in St. Mary's community nursing unit in the first phase of the pandemic in 2020. A protected disclosure was made and was discussed by the HSE at a meeting held on 14 May 2020. The minutes of that meeting show that advice was given to take emails relating to that review and investigation off the system. The investigation team requested the permission of the HSE to investigate the letter I sent it on this matter. The HSE refused to give that permission. It is extremely important that the people who wrote this particular letter in regard to St. Mary's are interviewed and the letter discussed as part of the Taoiseach's inquiry. Only an executive summary of the report has been published. That is only 17 pages of a 500-page report. All of that report needs to be published. It was delayed for more than 12 months for reasons I am unable to fathom.

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