Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Mary Bartley-Meehan lost her son and husband to Covid-19 in Kilbrew Nursing Home within just six weeks of each other. Ultan had dementia. He had carcinoma cancer, which resulted in tumorous wounds on his face and head. He had been a resident in the nursing home since 2019. Mary was shown a video of her husband before he died and it was quite horrific. The side of Ultan's face was discoloured with black, congealed blood. His nails were long and had become black as he had, unknown to himself, been picking at his facial tumours. As a result, these facial tumours became infected. Shockingly, his face had become infested with maggots. Shortly after these horrors happened to that man, he died in the nursing home. Months later, Mary went to the Department of Health, HIQA and the HSE to seek an investigation and justice for her husband and her son. She said that all of those groups refused to properly investigate what happened to her husband. It is now four years since Mary's husband died. It is four years ago today since she last saw him before he died.

I spoke to her today and she said, shockingly, every second night she has nightmares about that infestation. She told me she hoped she would not die before they say sorry. It is a horrific situation for anybody to have to deal with. She has gone through loved ones being poorly looked after in a nursing home at a significant cost during a very difficult time. She was prevented from being with them, protecting them, holding their hand and supporting them through their final days. Then the State basically washed its hands of it and said it was not able to help. It is astounding that this happened. I would like to know if the Bill starts to move towards allowing a situation like that to be investigated in future. Will the Minister of State address that in her closing remarks?

I spoke to personnel in the Ombudsman's office during that time. I asked if they would investigate what happened to Mary's husband. They said they could not and that they had no power under the law or ability to investigate it. That is incredible because we see the Ombudsman as the last port of call for citizens to investigate delivery of public services. The Ombudsman stated that unless there is a change to the Ombudsman's legislation, it will not be able to investigate something like this. While we are changing legislation, such as the two Acts being amended by this Bill, we should also look to change the Ombudsman's legislation to ensure the Ombudsman's office can investigate that. What happened to Mary Bartley-Meehan, her husband and son is absolutely wrong and it is absolutely wrong there has been no investigation and no apology in relation to what happened. I implore the Minister of State to see if anything can be done to achieve justice and to make sure Mary Bartley-Meehan does not pass away without receiving so much as a sorry from the State for what happened.

See this speech in context