Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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1264. To ask the Minister for Health if he will have a separate inquiry led by experienced medical persons, such as the Leas Cross inquiry into what happened in relation to nursing homes taken over by the HSE during the Covid pandemic, such as a nursing home in Dundalk (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45163/24]

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I recognise how difficult it has been for the families of nursing home residents who died in nursing homes during the pandemic, which presented one of the greatest and most wide-ranging public health challenges internationally in recent history.

Supporting nursing homes to respond to COVID-19 was an ongoing and central element of the State’s overall response throughout all phases of the pandemic. The publication of the COVID-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel report and recommendations in August 2020 provided the guiding framework not only for the pandemic response in nursing homes but also for a wide-ranging programme of improvement and reform for older persons’ care, which continues today.

The Government has announced that a comprehensive evaluation of how the country managed COVID-19 will be carried out. The Government has agreed on the terms of reference and appointed Professor Anne Scott to chair the evaluation and oversee the process. A multi-disciplinary panel with relevant expertise will undertake the evaluation.

The focus of the evaluation will be on the whole-of-government response to the pandemic and how we might do better and be in a stronger position if another pandemic or other similar type event were to occur. It will include consideration of the health service response along with the wider economic and social response, including the impact on education and businesses.

It has been confirmed in the terms of reference that the evaluation will include a specific module to evaluate the response to COVID-19 in long-term residential care facilities for older persons and to provide an overall assessment of learnings. This module will take particular account of the Nursing Homes Expert Panel report, subsequent implementation progress reports, and any relevant outputs from other documentary analysis and information gathering which will include the lived experience of the bereaved families. It is also intended to have a public consultation element to hear the lived experiences of all society more generally.