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

Covid has taken the lives of over 9,500 citizens to date in our country. It was a shock and an appalling vista to all of those families who lost those loved ones. As a supporter of the Government, I want to know what we are going to do in relation to learning the lessons from the deaths from Covid. Ninety per cent of those deaths were people aged over 65.

Older people are queuing up now in doctors' surgeries right around the country to get their welcome Covid injection to help them if and when it comes again in a pandemic. A new pandemic could well be on the way.

There is one nursing home, Dealgan House, which during Covid was the only nursing home in the country where the HSE had significant care and governance issues arising. Families lost 23 family members in that nursing home. The HSE went in there for a reason. We do not know the full facts. The only way we will find the facts is through an inquiry into that nursing home. Would the Tánaiste agree it is time to have that inquiry now?

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