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

I welcome the decision of the Government to have an inquiry into nursing homes during Covid but the reality is that when HIQA staff visited the Oaklands Nursing Home in County Kerry in November 2020, 27 of its 32 residents had Covid. The general manager and the person in charge were both absent and the person further identified to manage the centre in the event of the absence of those people did not step up and take responsibility for the centre, albeit from a distance as this person lived abroad. That is appalling and disgraceful care of elderly people. The only reason we know about that is that the system worked in the context of HIQA. HIQA discovered it, went in there and during its investigation took over the care and management of that home. Things have worked well and of those 27 people, most survived, although nine of them sadly passed away. If we compare and contrast that with Dealgan House in Dundalk, 22 people died and nobody turned up to help them, neither doctors or nurses.

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