The daughter of a woman who died at Ballynoe Nursing Home says she relives her mother’s death everyday

Christine Brohan has repeated her plea for the Taoiseach to meet with families to discuss the need for an independent public inquiry into Covid-19 deaths at nursing homes around the country.

Christine’s mother Kathleen Thompson was one of 24 residents who died at Carechoice Nursing Home in White’s Cross during January and February of last year.

Families say they were not given up to date information about their relatives, with some being unaware that they were gravely sick with Covid until they were asked to come to the home for a ‘final visit’.

A bill to establish a public inquiry into what happened at nursing homes was proposed and is at the second of eleven stages in the Dáil, however the bill could take months to progress through the various stages and is not guaranteed to get to the final stage to be signed into law by the president.

Speaking to RedFM News, Christine Brohan says families feel ignored by the government:

“We just seem to be hitting a brick wall, nobody seems to be listening to us so it’s an ongoing fight, it’s an ongoing battle and we just have to keep trying as best we can to try and find out what happened, just to try to get the answers that we’re looking for, to get Micheál Martin to meet families, listen to our experiences- our horrific experiences- and the impact it’s after having on families. He needs to hear first-hand of the trauma it’s after leaving us in and we need him to listen to us, we do.”

RedFM News has contacted the Department of the Taoiseach for comment.