Mattie McGrath labels COVID response a 'scam', demands answers
Mattie McGrath criticised aspects of the government's COVID-19 response, raising concerns about student nurses' pay, local hospice and respite services, nursing-home oversight and airport testing and tracing. He called the handling a 'scam', demanded firm dates for reopening local services and pressed for an independent inquiry into nursing-home failures.
Student nurses and financial hardship
He highlighted hardship faced by psychiatric and general student nurses who lost paid placement income during the pandemic, noting families who do not receive grants are particularly affected by the loss of agency work and placement pay.
Hospice beds and respite services at St Bridges Hospital
He warned that three hospice beds at St Bridges Hospital in Carrickenshire, funded largely by the local community, remain closed and that local respite services have been taken over for COVID use but were not used. He pressed the minister for a definite date to return those hospice and respite beds to the community.
Call for an independent public inquiry into nursing homes
He described the nursing-home situation as 'shambolic' and argued for a public independent inquiry 'from without the state' to examine what happened. He said briefings were held with department officials and referenced Mr Houlihan and others, calling for answers rather than 'waffle'.
Airport controls, testing and tracing failures
He alleged major failures at airports, saying 62,000 people entered and fewer than 2,000 were asked to fill forms or followed up. He said there is effectively 'open season' on arrivals from hot spots because testing and tracing at airports are not being carried out consistently and criticised shifting responsibility for electronic tracing to the Department of Transport.
Restrictions and perceived double standards
He criticised restrictions on pubs, GAA crowds and church services (citing limits of under 200 for GAA and 50 for churches), and said large events such as the Holy Year Mass at the John Mellon Holy Year Cross — which draws 500-600 people — cannot proceed despite perceived lax controls at ports. He argued small businesses and ordinary people are being misled and harmed by what he described as deception in the pandemic response.
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Minister, a couple of quick questions. One is, when are the students nurses? I have psychiatric student nurses and ordinary general students who have gone into the front line and helped, but they also have a situation where they've paid their way to college by their placement time, which is eight or maybe ten weeks, and they get paid for that. So now they can't get that with agencies and everything else because of the COVID situation. So there is a huge hardship on families, especially who don't get grants. Minister St Bridges Hospital in Carrickenshire, a wonderful district hospital. Three hospice beds are funded by the people and mainly of the communities, and also the fact that the respite services in that area are totally closed. You took it over for COVID, it wasn't used literally, and it's open and we're getting promises and promises. I want a definite date of you when those hospice beds and the respite beds will be returned to us. Definitely, if not today, in the coming days. Minister, I want to go back to the nursing homes, the shambolic report went on there, and it had to be a public independent inquiry from without the state of what the black adding went on there. Now, Minister Deputy Shorttroll and I were at briefings with the department and the minister and Mr Houlihan and everybody else. I wish Mr Houlihan's family well. You were there as well. The shoe's on the other foot now. So we want answers, not waffle. The whole thing at the airports is shambolic. I would cause this whole pandemic as a scam pandemic. And this is, people have been scammed, deceived, deceitably perpetrated on them. 62,000 people have come in, and less than 2,000 were even asked to fill a form or follow it up. This is disgraceful, when we wouldn't allow the pubs to open, when we won't allow people to attend GAA matches, less than 200, when above all, we won't allow any more than 50 in the churches. We have a wonderful Holy Year Mass, and I spoke to you about it in the John Mellon Holy Year Cross, every year of the last 60 years, and it can't be held outdoor. It can't be held because the numbers were 500-600 people on the bank holiday Monday morning, a wonderful location, can't happen. And the people can come in from all over the world, and you have absolutely no testing, no tracing, nothing. It's a con, it's a deceit, and the people have been conned. Totally and absolutely. I don't know if you have the new minister, but you're on the other side and you know. We're being conned. Ordinary people have been told on television, stay in, do everything. I heard Deputy Barry talking about Dublin, how the compliance would mess. Great. But why can't, the airports are fast. And I've been saying this from the first briefing we had, you were at all of them, Minister, with the Taoiseach, where it had to be good Europeans, we couldn't close them. Hungary could do it, and what could the Taoiseach do? Only criticise Hungary, and the now Taoiseach as well, Deputy Martin. So look, the people are being fooled. The poor people in the pubs that have many pensions and not getting a penny on any payment, were misled last week to get stock and they were going to reopen. And now by the soundings this morning again, I'd say they won't be open around the 10th of August either. And anybody can come in from anywhere, Saigon, anywhere, and walk to the airport, even you're going to have this electronic tracing now. Now it's going to be the Department of Transport. When we asked the Deputy Shorter in our last one of the briefings, no one could tell us who was doing it. Nobody is doing it. It's not being done. It's open season for anybody to come in from any hot spot, red hot spot into this country. And that is a disgrace, as an injustice to our people, our frontline workers, our staff, Gadda Shikana, everybody who's trying to keep, keep this at bay and beat it. And it's been, it's, the people have been blackouted, deceived. And it is, it is a scam from that point of view, a total scam. Small business have been pushed out of business. And small people are, and ordinary people didn't try to live in the country. And this black gathering going on, it's just unthinkable. Thank you very much. Thank you, Deputy. There's no time left for Reply, Minister. So we're going to move on to the...
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