Group backs call for 'wide-ranging inquiry' into Covid deaths in nursing homes 

Coroners Society president Frank O’Connell said last week he believed such an inquiry was necessary to provide answers for grieving relatives about why their loved ones died. Picture: Denis Minihane

The Irish Association of Social Workers (IASW) has backed a call by the Coroners Society of Ireland for a “wide-ranging inquiry” into Covid-19-related deaths in nursing homes.

Coroners Society president Frank O’Connell said last week he believed such an inquiry was necessary to provide answers for grieving relatives about why their loved ones died.

Mr O'Connell, who is the coroner for South and West Cork, is exploring holding individual inquests into six deaths at Ballynoe Nursing Home in Cork.

The IASW said: “The IASW has called for a full public inquiry into the deaths in nursing homes during Covid-19 and the lived experience of surviving residents and their family members who experienced care at that time as witnesses.”

It comes ahead of an online webinar on Tuesday entitled Behind Closed Doors: Abuse in Care Settings. The webinar is co-hosted by University College Dublin, the IASW, and the British Association of Social Workers Northern Ireland.

Dr Sarah Donnelly, assistant professor in social work, School of Social Policy, Social Work, and Social Justice, UCD, said: "I personally would support the Coroners Society of Ireland call for a public enquiry.

“I feel very strongly there should be a full, open, and transparent public inquiry.”

She said: “We would really want to highlight the vulnerability of older people not just in Ireland but internationally.

And within the Irish context specifically again, we would hope to highlight the lack of governance and oversight in private nursing homes which we have been repeatedly trying to highlight for the last two years.

”The real issue for myself and the Irish Association of Social Workers is that residents have been cocooned into nursing homes without the protective monitoring eyes of family members.

“They really have no way to speak out about abuse, if it was happening.”

Dr Donnelly added: “Sadly, there just does not seem to be any political motivation there to change things anytime soon.

“And it is hard to fathom why that is. Political inaction is a policy choice.

“We have repeatedly highlighted our concerns to the Minister of Health, to the Minister for Older Persons, to the HSE, and there just does not appear to be the political will or motivation to address these issues.”