Defence Forces deployed in just nine residential centres despite high Covid death rate

A spokesman for the Defence Forces said they were called in to assist when staff numbers became dangerously low due to Covid-19. 

The HSE asked the Defence Forces to assist in just nine residential centres during the pandemic, despite the sector suffering exceptionally high death rates and struggling with staffing shortages due to Covid.

In the residential sector, nursing homes were the hardest hit, with approximately 60% of the country's 587 nursing homes experiencing a Covid-19 outbreak. More than half of the State's Covid-related deaths have been linked to nursing homes.