Ciarán Mullooly: Calls for Public Inquiry into COVID Care Failings
Ciarán Mullooly, MEP, addressed the chamber to demand a public inquiry into how vulnerable adults were safeguarded during the COVID pandemic. He cited testimony from Care Champions and named cases where visits were refused and ICU access was denied, arguing families deserve the truth.
Ciarán Mullooly details meetings with Care Champions, an independent Irish advocacy organisation, and recounts their stories. He describes how restrictions prevented carers entering homes, barred visits to nursing homes, and led to decisions about ICU access that devastated families.
Mullooly argues that these are not hypothetical problems but concrete failures that require formal investigation. He says a proper public inquiry is necessary to establish the facts, ensure accountability and learn lessons about the safeguarding of vulnerable adults in our society.
The MEP warns that without clear answers and reform, similar harms could recur. The address frames the call for inquiry as essential to restoring trust, protecting vulnerable people, and improving public health and care policies going forward.
Personal testimonies and impact
Ciarán Mullooly details meetings with Care Champions, an independent Irish advocacy organisation, and recounts their stories. He describes how restrictions prevented carers entering homes, barred visits to nursing homes, and led to decisions about ICU access that devastated families.
Why a public inquiry is needed
Mullooly argues that these are not hypothetical problems but concrete failures that require formal investigation. He says a proper public inquiry is necessary to establish the facts, ensure accountability and learn lessons about the safeguarding of vulnerable adults in our society.
Consequences for policy and care
The MEP warns that without clear answers and reform, similar harms could recur. The address frames the call for inquiry as essential to restoring trust, protecting vulnerable people, and improving public health and care policies going forward.
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Transcript
Thank you Chair. The COVID pandemic is over but the scars remain. This week I met with Care Champions, an independent Irish advocacy organisation representing people who are affected both in the community and in care homes. I met Angela Moore who lost both her parents within 13 weeks of each other. The staff who were looking after them could no longer enter her house because of a public health policy. Anne Gallagher tried to book a visit to see her husband in a nursing home on the 19th of December but was not allowed. Her husband Brendan passed away later that day. Majella Beatty's mother, Mary Jane, was told if she deteriorated she could not be accommodated in ICU due to her age and dementia. These are real people, real relatives, real families, people who are entitled to the truth. We need a proper public inquiry and we need it for one reason, so that we can investigate the proper safeguarding of vulnerable adults in our society.