

From top: Dublin Dublin District Coroners Court, Store Street; Section 40 of the Births, Deaths Registration Act
Peter Keating, a Dublin-born writer now living in Munster, writes:
In June 2021, the Coroner’s Society of Ireland rightly called for a “wide-ranging inquiry” into all covid-related nursing home deaths.
This call was backed by Mayo County Coroner, Mr. Patrick O’Connor, who had previously also publicly questioned the recording of covid deaths in Ireland.
This issue seems to have been shelved by the Irish media, but it should not be allowed to go quietly into the night. It is not merely an issue of public confidence in the government, the health service, and the medical profession; it may also be a criminal matter.
On 3rd July 2020 the Tánaiste made a statement to the following effect on social media:
“…In Ireland we counted all deaths, in all settings, suspected cases even when no lab test was done, and included people with underlying terminal illnesses who died with Covid but not of it.”
It beggars belief that such recording practices could be a matter of policy. Was there a direction to adopt such recording practices, and from whom did it originate? It would surely have to originate at government level, and then be transmitted via the HSE for implementation by hospital staff at local level.
This is a serious matter for the State, and warrants investigation to determine whether offences have been committed, and by whom, under Section 40 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1874, which still provides for a penalty of up to seven years penal servitude upon conviction on indictment for any person who wilfully gives to a registrar any false information concerning the cause of any death.
How did it happen that death certificates were falsified on such a scale? Where is the investigation and the outrage?
Anyone?
Previously: Covid death numbers on Broadsheet
RollingNews