The devastated daughter of a man who died from Covid-19 in one of the nursing homes worst hit by the virus has accused Health Minister Stephen Donnelly of breaking his promise to investigate what happened.
And Emma Duffy claimed Mr Donnelly is forcing families to do the State’s job and investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 24 patients at Dealgan nursing home.
Ms Duffy said that her father Oliver fell ill with a kidney infection in the home and claims that no doctor attended him until three days later.
The woman from Dundalk, Co Louth, said: “My dad Oliver suffered from Parkinsons and Alzheimers and was admitted to Dealgan nursing home on January 27, 2020.
“We felt he needed full time care and that this was the best course of action for everyone.
“Through no fault of ours, it all turned out horribly wrong though.
“He contracted Covid on April 17 and died on May 2 that same year.”
She added: “We met Stephen Donnelly 15 months ago and he promised us faithfully he would come back to us with some answers in a few weeks and that sadly is the last we have heard from him.
“The families of those who died have come together as a group and we have all turned into investigative reporters to try and find out what went on in there, the State has been of no help, they just want us to go away.
“Well, we are not going away.
“We can’t go away until we get proper answers - we owe it to the dead to have a proper Commission Of Inquiry into what happened and we won’t be fobbed off with anything less.
“The nursing home is only concerned with salvaging its reputation and not with providing answers for us.
“Two weeks after my dad died they told us that 60% of their staff had caught the virus and were off work - why the hell didn’t they tell us immediately when it happened? We would have taken dad out of there.
“We have since found out that dad got a kidney infection and, as it was at the start of the weekend, no doctor was called for him until the Monday.”
When details of the problem emerged the Royal College Of Surgeons hospital group took over the management of the nursing home in Dundalk on April 17, 2020, to ensure safe staffing levels and Emma says they were shocked at what they discovered,
She added: “What we haven’t been told is what prompted them to take over in the first place."
Relatives of those who died have begun counselling to deal with their bereavements and Ms Duffy says they even had to force the State's hand on that.
She said: “We had to push Paul Reid, the HSE chief, on it to get counselling and it has only started this week, I just had my first session a few days ago, that is two years after my father died.
“You know I still have not been able to grieve properly as all my energy has been focused on finding out what happened.
“Stephen Donnelly has broken his promise and let us down, he has left us having to do the State's job for it and that is plain wrong, we need a full Commission Of Inquiry but he seems reluctant to deliver it."
