Commissioners decline to explain why they did not mention Republic of Ireland in article highlighting failures around Covid care home deaths

Two leading advocates for the elderly and human rights in Northern Ireland have declined to comment on why they appeared to ignore the high level of care home deaths in the Republic of Ireland (RoI) in an article on Covid-19.
By The Newsroom
Published 3rd Jun 2020, 12:16 BST
Updated 5th Jun 2020, 10:37 BST
Les Allamby, chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (seen above in 2019 outside a Belfast court, in support of a legal bid to liberalise abortion law)Les Allamby, chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (seen above in 2019 outside a Belfast court, in support of a legal bid to liberalise abortion law)
Les Allamby, chief Commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (seen above in 2019 outside a Belfast court, in support of a legal bid to liberalise abortion law)

In the joint article Eddie Lynch, Commissioner for Older People for NI (COPNI), and the NI Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) chief commissioner Les Allamby are critical of the approach taken by health authorities in Northern Ireland to prevent deaths in residential and nursing care homes.

They also point to other countries globally that they describe as being “found wanting” in protection of people who live in such homes.

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However, there is no mention of our nearest neighbour, and most obvious comparator, across the border. Both jurisdictions have reported that more than half of Covids deaths were in care homes.

Eddie Lynch, the Commissioner for Older People in Northern IrelandEddie Lynch, the Commissioner for Older People in Northern Ireland
Eddie Lynch, the Commissioner for Older People in Northern Ireland

In the recent joint article, the two commissioners refer to “the rest of the UK, Sweden, United States, Italy and Spain,” as having experienced similar difficulties to Northern Ireland — with the “late arrival of PPE and slow introduction of testing” said to have “increased the risk to those living in these settings”.

The article also states: “We must ask ourselves, and our government, if all that could have been done to prevent these deaths has been done.”

As of June 1, the Covid-19 RoI death toll was 1,650, while NI had 524 recorded deaths.

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The latter does not include all care home deaths. The latest figures from NI Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) shows 53.1% of the deaths it recorded in total from Covid-19 were such residents.

People aged over 75 accounted for almost 80% of all Covid-19 related NI deaths. In RoI, more than 50% of deaths have been in care homes — some reports say 60+%.

Both authors of the article declined to comment when asked by the News Letter if they believe Northern Ireland has fared worse than the Republic of Ireland in terms of protecting the elderly in care homes.

We also asked why they did not mention the neighbouring RoI when they listed nations that had fared badly in such deaths.

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The COPNI Mr Lynch said he would not be in a position to respond at this time.

An NIHRC spokeswoman said they welcomed the fact that testing was now being made available to all care home residents and staff, and added: “We remain focused on what is happening in Northern Ireland.”

• Morning View: Failure of commissioners to mention that Ireland also had Covid care home problems was surprising

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Related topics:Northern IrelandCovid-19Republic of Ireland