More than a quarter of all Covid-19 deaths in Ireland were in nursing homes, figures from the HSE show.
Data released shows out of the 8,545 deaths, 2,323 occurred in retirement facilities which accounts for 27%.
The figures released were from March 2020 until the middle of February of this year.
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In addition, the HSE also revealed 1,126 deaths were linked to outbreaks in hospitals which claimed the lives of patients or staff - 1,121 were confirmed cases of the killer virus while five were possible.
The deadly disease was responsible for the deaths of 59 people in HSE-run disability residential centres.
Health bosses also determined 12,582 cases of the virus were linked to outbreaks in acute hospitals affecting both staff and patients.
The harrowing figures were released to Aontu leader Peadar Toibin by the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre following Parliamentary Questions.
The HSE said they were not able to determine how many people had contracted the deadly disease in hospital and the figures released were those that were linked to outbreaks.
They were also not able to confirm if all the cases attributed to hospital outbreaks were contracted in hospital settings.
Three years ago on February 29, 2020, Ireland recorded its first case of Covid-19. To date, more than 1.7 million have contracted the killer virus here.
Data from the European Centre Disease Prevention and Control shows Ireland had the sixth lowest death rate from the coronavirus for every 100,000 out of 28 European countries and the UK to date.
It comes as the Government said they intend to launch an inquiry into how the State handled the pandemic by the middle of 2024.
Kingston Mills, Professor of Experimental Immunology at the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, stressed that any probe should be about preparing for the next pandemic and not about blaming people for mistakes that were made.
He told RTE: “Everybody was under a lot of pressure, the Government, the HSE, the Department of Health and they had to make a lot of rapid decisions which weren't very popular amongst the public."
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