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Residents at Laois residential centre where eight died with Covid-19 to have conditions reviewed

Residents at the Maryborough Centre are being medically reviewed by consultants from nearby Portlaoise Hospital.

LAST UPDATE | 16 Apr 2020

THE HSE HAS said that 17 people who are still residing at a residential centre in Laois where eight patients with Covid-19 died over the bank holiday weekend will have their conditions reviewed.

All 17 are being managed as if they are Covid-19 positive regardless of test results or the presence of symptoms at the Maryborough Centre for Psychiatry of Old Age, located in St Fintan’s Campus in Portlaoise.

So far, there have been 444 confirmed deaths from Covid-19 in Ireland. Around half of these were in nursing homes or other residential care settings. 

As far back as 6 March, Nursing Homes Ireland had moved to restrict visitors to its facilities but there has since been over 200 clusters of the virus in Irish nursing homes.

There has been some criticism of the government’s response in nursing homes so far, with the health minister Simon Harris announcing new supports of the sector earlier this month

Harris is to meet with Nursing Homes Ireland tomorrow to discuss the outbreak and see what else can be done to slow the spread of the virus in the sector. 

Yesterday, trade union Siptu reached an agreement with the HSE on the voluntary redeployment of health workers to private nursing homes which are facing staffing issues as workers with symptoms or who were in close contact with cases must self isolate.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Dr Siobhán Ní Bhriain – the HSE’s national lead for integrated care – said that if a situation arose in a particular residential setting that became “unmanageable”, the possibility of moving residents elsewhere to safeguard against the virus would be explored.

On the same programme, Mary Dunnion from independent body Hiqa said that Covid-19 is currently present in around 30% of nursing homes in the country and it was important for a “national response” to help out these centres as well as being able to support the remaining 70% to prevent and contain the virus spreading there.

“I think we’re all learning and there’ll be significant lessons when this ends,” Dunnion said. “This pandemic has challenged all areas of health and social services [...] processes are now in place supporting nursing homes.”

In a statement, the HSE said it wanted to express its sincere sympathies to the families and friends of the deceased at Maryborough. In all, nine people died at the centre last weekend – aged between 66 and 84 – and eight had tested positive for Covid-19.

After this cohort were diagnosed, public health policy was followed daily with a separate nursing roster caring for the residents who had no symptoms to ensure isolation. 

Additional support is being made available to the families of the remaining residents who are updated regularly, the HSE said.

“While a number of staff are currently on sick leave, the current compliment of staff is sufficient to manage the centre,” it said. “A number of additonal staff were redeployed to the Maryborough Centre in the week prior to Easter weekend following the diagnosis of Covid-19 in the resident group and to support their greater care needs.”

Ní Bhriain said that this facility would have had multiple beds in one room, and action was taken to ensure that those without systems were kept together. 

She added that decisions were taken on the levels of care that would be “appropriate” for those who had gotten sick, and said she was “deeply sorry” to hear about those who had died.

All remaining residents have been medically reviewed by consultants from Portlaoise Hopsital. 

These consultants and a palliative care consultant will continue to provide daily/as required intervention in conjunction with the consultant psychiatrist and nursing staff, the HSE said.

It added that occupational supports and debriefing are being offered to staff at the centre following the deaths. 

With reporting from Adam Daly

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48 Comments
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    Mute Anne Marie Devlin
    Favourite Anne Marie Devlin
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    Apr 16th 2020, 8:57 AM

    8 dead and it’s still open. If it happened in a prison or DP centre, there’d rightly be uproar, yet the government and society seem happy to let our elderly and care workers continue without adequate space for isolation and without PPE. My local paper’s leading story today is how staff in the local HSE nursing home had to buy their own masks, gloves and hand sanitizers. Blatant disrespect of their lives and the patients’.

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    Mute Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:11 AM

    @Anne Marie Devlin: Where else would be suitable to place these people?

    96
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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Apr 16th 2020, 11:41 AM

    @Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh: It doesn’t make sense that they have no privacy. All stuck in a dormitory together? Seems a raw deal to me.

    23
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    Mute Locojoe
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    Apr 16th 2020, 8:24 AM

    Is it possible that the HSE could have prevented these covid-19 related deaths?

    105
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    Mute Oscar Wilde
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:50 AM

    Let’s not forget a couple of days after the Nursing Homes took action in the absence of any guidance from HSE that the CMO and Leo both admonished the Nursing Homes for acting unilaterally to restrict visitors.

    The Nursing Home situation was allowed to get out of control because of HSE and CMO been able to hid behind the privacy card. The lack of guidance, PPE and staff falling ill were widely known. The Independent were brave enough to break ranks and report on Nursing Home in Leinster ( East) with 14 cases, we eventually learnt it was in North Dublin when a relative spoke on RTE about the distress of not being able to have proper funeral. Even then no action was taken

    Nursing home residents are essentially cocooned but not the staff… PPE and testing were vital at this stage but ….

    69
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    Mute Nell foran
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:21 AM

    How can it be allowed for people to share rooms in this kind of situation
    How could 2 metres have been upheld in this situation. Staff are not being given ppe unless they are working with a confirmed case in nursing homes at that stage its too late

    63
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    Mute JarryWasNotInTheRA
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:28 AM

    @Nell foran: where are you going to magic up new rooms from? There is a worldwide shortage of PPE so where do we get it?

    60
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    Mute Cormac Laffan
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:25 AM

    @JarryWasNotInTheRA:
    Build the rooms, manufacturer the PPE. Seems standard enough practice elsewhere.

    22
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    Mute Derek
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    Apr 16th 2020, 11:16 AM

    @Cormac Laffan: lol, build the rooms! I’ll just click my fingers there

    15
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    Mute JarryWasNotInTheRA
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    Apr 16th 2020, 2:02 PM

    @Cormac Laffan: why didn’t anyone else think of that….oh yes all the construction workers are staying at home and we don’t have the facilities or capacity to produce enough PPE.

    6
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    Mute Isabel Oliveira
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:43 AM

    9 people in one residential home pass away in one weekend and nothing is done . No testing of all residents in order to prevent further infections of those who hopefully are not infected, no national screening of care homes . Also, Why aren’t ill residents sent to hospital for treatment when they get too sick are there guidelines in this sense ? This is unacceptable. Just because people are in care homes doesn’t mean we give up on them.

    58
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    Mute Michelle Maher
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    Apr 16th 2020, 5:54 PM

    @Isabel Oliveira: I think that patients who become acutely unwell are transferred to hospitals however some people are for comfort measures in some circumstances. So not all patients with covid require an acute hospital admission. Extremely sad situation for the families and not to mention the healthcare staff who have been looking after these people for god knows how long. Big losses felt all round I’m sure. Devastating news.

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    Mute Sean Salmon
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:30 AM

    Can someone tell me for information purposes if the average age of people dying from covid 19 is around 80 and the average age of people in icu is about 60. Are older people being left to die without any hope of icu intervention?

    57
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    Mute Fozz
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:41 AM

    @Sean Salmon: Yes, and this was clearly stated a few days ago…I can’t recall which medical person said it in one of the daily reviews.
    ICU is intensive, and an ordeal even for a healthy person.
    It is not worth putting a frail elderly individual through such an ordeal of the outcome is either reduced quality-of-life, or death anyway. Some people here will be familiar with the question of “resuscitation” when it comes to the treatment of the very ill. Families daily need to make that call and it’s a terrible decision to have to make.
    Nobody is saying ‘just let them die’ but it can be interpreted as that by some, which is completely disingenuous.

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    Mute Isabel Oliveira
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:45 AM

    @Sean Salmon: very good question .

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    Mute Sean Salmon
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:50 AM

    @Fozz: ok thanks bit clearer now

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    Mute Niall Ó Cofaigh
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:14 AM

    @Sean Salmon: most reports state the median age and not the average age. There can be a big difference sometimes. The median age is just the middle age and nothing more.

    So if we look at seven numbers… 20, 40, 60, 80, 81, 83, 84 – mediane is 80.. average is 64.

    My understanding is that there are at least three levels of intervention possible. Oxygen which is available in nursing homes, bipap non invasive ventilation which is available outside ICU and invasive ventilation which is ICU based. There is also simple cpap ventilation and lung draining. Depending upon the patient and the attending doctor some treatments may not be an option so transfer to hospital or ICU may not happen – but I do agree that the question needs to be asked if hospitalisation would make a difference.

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    Mute MollyMsalone
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    Apr 16th 2020, 8:32 AM

    Cart before the horse again.

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    Mute Pat Butler
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:11 AM

    To hell with reviews. Get these people into proper medical facilities. Why are the elderly treated as disposable humans?

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    Mute Fred the Muss...
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:05 AM

    @Pat Butler: What proper medical facilities are you talking about Pat?

    16
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    Mute MickN
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:10 AM

    @Pat Butler: Disposable is what they are it seems, awful…

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    Mute Pat Butler
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    Apr 16th 2020, 11:04 AM

    @Fred the Muss…: the very same that you and I should be entitled to

    9
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    Mute Doug
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    Apr 16th 2020, 2:15 PM

    @Pat Butler:
    Says the expert in geriatric care.

    1
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    Mute Justice Mickey
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:44 AM

    The poor patients and staff must be terrified, how sad is this.

    36
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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Apr 16th 2020, 11:51 AM

    @Justice Mickey: I’d say it’s worse when some of the patients are oblivious to the dangers of passing the virus on. It can be impossible to reason with a person with advanced Alzheimer’s.

    14
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    Mute Robert Nugent
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:33 AM

    The HSE has published protocols around using hydroxychloroquine. Dozens of doctors are now saying that hydroxychloroquine with zinc given in an outpatient setting, esp to high risk groups, greatly reduces the need for admissions to ICU’s.

    The St James’s Hospital Protocol needs to be adjusted to treat patients before they become critical in an out patient setting.

    We don’t need to let hundreds of vulnerable people die when we can start treating some of them now (obviously with medical supervision, nobody should take any medication without medical supervision).

    Hydroxychloroquine is a Zinc Ionophore and seemingly many doctors observe when treated early that hydroxychloroquine and zinc reduce the viral load. Not a cure, but greatly reduces the viral load.

    Early treatment of vulnerable is key under medical supervision.

    https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/acute-hospitals-division/drugs-management-programme/hydroxychloroquine-and-azithromycin-combination-therapy-for-covid-19.pdf

    https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/acute-hospitals-division/drugs-management-programme/guidelines/specific-antiviral-therapy-in-the-clinical-management-of-acute-respiratory-infection-with-sars-cov-2-covid-19.pdf

    26
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    Mute Niall Ó Cofaigh
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:23 AM

    @Robert Nugent: very interesting and useful link – thank you

    7
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    Mute Colin B
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    Apr 16th 2020, 11:26 AM

    @Niall Ó Cofaigh: This is the actual conclusion from the above link – At the time of writing, there is no evidence to indicate that combination therapy with azithromycin and hydroxychloroquine is more effective than single-agent hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19. Controlled trials, ideally randomised and double-blinded, are necessary to provide robust evidence for the systematicuse ofthis treatment regimen.The risk of QTc prolongation and more serious ventricular arrhythmias should be carefully evaluated and monitored if this treatment is considered for use.

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    Mute Robert Nugent
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    Apr 16th 2020, 11:39 AM

    @Colin B: treat early with hydroxychloroquine and zine (not azithromycin) but azithromycin can be used.

    Obviously under medical supervision. patients diagnosed early with Covid19 should challenge to be treated early. Don’t wait until a cytokine storm develops and you are in the ICU. Doctors know this.

    4
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    Mute gofreak
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:02 AM

    This needs huge investigation. A third of a care center dying over one weekend is just beyond horrific.

    30
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    Mute Isabel Oliveira
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:06 AM

    And another question . What is happening in residential homes for people with disabilities ?

    20
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    Mute pat seery
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:55 AM

    WAKE up Simon before it’s to late
    Thank you RTE for highlighting the situation

    14
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    Mute Robert Nugent
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:24 AM

    @pat seery: like RTE highlighted this? https://twitter.com/rtenews/status/1237446670146777089?s=20

    7
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    Mute Trevor
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:47 AM

    Patients families should take legal against the NH. Over €4k a month for the care of your family member and yet they allow this to happen

    15
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    Mute Johnny 5
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    Apr 16th 2020, 8:45 AM

    @Mark O’Donohoe: They’ll tell you they were old and old people die. It’s unbelievable how many morons believe their bile.

    64
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    Mute Johnny 5
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:10 AM

    @Johnny 5: response was to a comment about two people who call themselves patriots but are taking a case in the high court at the moment.

    29
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    Mute FrustratedASDMum
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    Apr 16th 2020, 11:28 AM

    @Johnny 5: You’re not allowed say anything about that individual here because I presume she’s threatened them with solicitors too. Very sensitive little thing, isn’t she?

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    Mute Johnny 5
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    Apr 16th 2020, 4:14 PM

    @FrustratedASDMum: She is, poor thing. I’ve noticed she doesn’t enjoy being chased by someone waving a camcorder in her face as much as she enjoys chasing someone and shoving a camcorder in their face.

    1
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    Mute Gaye D
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    Apr 16th 2020, 1:22 PM

    These deaths did not occur in a private care home, they occurred in the Maryborough Centre of the old St Fintans Asylum in Port Laoise under HSE.

    There is no excuse.

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    Mute Fabio Dillon
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:59 AM

    Devastating.

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    Mute Robert Nugent
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:24 AM
    6
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    Mute Sk19
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:31 AM

    @Robert Nugent: our same experts people continual to laud

    There are experts managing this virus well, but they the experts guiding other countries

    There is a criminal investigation into the ruby princess debacle , by comparsion this will barley get a mention

    4
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    Mute Mary Josephine
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:38 AM

    @Robert Nugent: as a matter of interest, when did the restrictions for nursing homes begin? Schools closed 12th March. Before that I don’t think anyone knew how serious this was going to get.

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    Mute Kate Flaherty
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:48 AM

    @Mary Josephine: “No one knew how serious it was going to get”, there are none so blind as those who will not see, over 50% of our nursing homes now have clusters, a catastrophe for all involved…

    8
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    Mute Robert Nugent
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    Apr 16th 2020, 10:57 AM

    @Mary Josephine: it was pretty serious in China, all they had to do was look at the news in China from Jan and Feb.

    5
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    Mute Oscar Wilde
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    Apr 16th 2020, 12:44 PM

    @Mary Josephine: people were calling for schools to close well before March 12 … Nursing Homes acted early March then lots of calls to Joe Duffy complaining and CMO /Leo step in tell them to reverse decision
    Go back to the start
    First case in Glasnevin did they close School straight away ?
    No it took a few days and parents were told they could go to work?
    I wonder is Mary Lou questioning the wisdom of that pearl of advise now ?
    People who travelled on that plane only those in seats near the confirmed case contact traced?
    Remember being told you have to be more the 15 minutes in contact nonsense?
    Northern lady who tested positive flew in to Dublin and then travelled by train to the North and the secrecy surrounding that?
    Leo’s first move at start of this was to rehire his PR guru

    5
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    Mute Ger O'Reilly
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    Apr 16th 2020, 9:40 PM

    Are staff sickness levels higher than normal and if so why?

    1
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    Mute Aoife Reilly
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    Apr 16th 2020, 5:37 PM

    This is so sad , condolences to their familes . May they all Rest in Peace

    1
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