Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Twenty-four people died in a 51-bed nursing home at Ballynoe in Cork in the third wave of Covid-19 at the start of 2021. "Prime Time" recently revealed that the HSE was notified of the outbreak on 8 January but did not visit the home until 16 February. A HIQA visit, after 22 people were already dead, found nine unreported deaths, multiple violations of infection control regulations and no Covid-19 risk management plan. I believe the privatisation of the nursing home sector and the for-profit ethos were major factors in tragedies such as that at Ballynoe. There is a clear need for an inquiry into what happened at Ballynoe and in the nursing home sector generally during the pandemic. Does the Taoiseach agree and, if so, when will such an inquiry take place?

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