The Health Minister was only given an update on the status of a Ballinasloe Nursing home four days after a Covid cluster was first reported.
Emails show that the first Covid related case at the Nightingale Nursing Home was discovered on October 19th, but the Health Minister was only updated on the situation in the afternoon of the 22nd of October by senior HSE management.
26 out of 28 residents were Covid positive by that stage, and up to seventeen staff were also struck down by the virus.
The crisis only came to national attention after tweets from local GP Dr Martin Daly were widely reported in the media and after a handful of staff were left to manage the facility.
Internal correspondence released under Freedom of Information reveals that it was only after Dr Daly's tweets were reported that senior HSE management discussed the seriousness of the situation.
In a Dail debate on October 22nd, Minister Stephen Donnelly refuted claims that the nursing home had not been given support and said that assistance was being provided despite being told in an email that the HSE had struggled to find agency staff for the facility.
Speaking in the Dail today, Aontu leader Peadar Tobin says the slow response to the issue from the HSE is worrying:
