Des O’Neill: Covid-19 deaths in care sector are a wake-up call to everyone

The C&AG’s report into nursing homes contained no real insight into the problems affecting the sector

The report said nothing about the neglectful policy of separating the largely private sector from the structures and services of the health service

The coronavirus-related deaths of almost 1,000 people in Irish nursing homes reflected an abject failure of policy and oversight by successive health ministers and the agencies they oversee, allied to untrammelled privatisation of a highly vulnerable sector.

Onto that deep, glaring wound was poured a hefty bucketful of salt by the Comptroller & Auditor General last week in a report on the Fair Deal scheme. It reinforced the sense that, like the Bourbons, the political ...