GARDAÍ HAVE been in contact with law-enforcement agencies in Australia as part of an investigation into the owner of a Kilkenny nursing home who is accused of breaching care standards and stealing money from clients.
It emerged yesterday that Miriam Holmes, who managed the Avondale nursing home that was closed last July following concerns over the safety of residents, has been managing a nursing home in Melbourne for several months.
Her daughter, Hayley, was employed as a clinical care co-ordinator at the same home. Both women – who were directors of the nursing home – had not been seen since they left Ireland on July 22nd last, a day after the closure of Avondale.
As well as facing potential prosecutions over breaches in care, gardaí are investigating allegations that they stole several thousand euro, medication and public-service cards from residents.
Security sources in Australia say any attempts to extradite the two women to Ireland are likely to be complex and take a significant period of time to finalise.
A spokeswoman for Victoria Police in Melbourne declined to comment on the case.
The attorney general’s department in Australia, which responds to extradition requests, said the government had a policy of not commenting on these matters until a person has been arrested.
At home, relatives of former residents of Avondale said yesterday they hoped the two women would be made to answer questions by gardaí.
Maria Ronan, whose uncle, Billy, was a resident at the nursing home, said: “Anyone who may have had money stolen and hasn’t had it returned, that’s a big source of worry for these elderly people, as this would be their life savings.”
She said she was happy gardaí were continuing to investigate the case and hoped the authorities would eventually move to seek the extradition of the two women.
At the time of writing, Miriam Holmes was still listed as facility manager for Plumpton Villa, a 90-bed nursing home in the residential area of Glenroy in Melbourne, on the company’s website.
Neither the Craigcare group, which owns the nursing home, nor Ms Holmes were available for comment yesterday.
Workers at the nursing home were reluctant to talk about Ms Holmes yesterday but confirmed that she and her daughter had worked there for several months.
A visitor to the facility yesterday remembered Miriam Holmes well and told The Age, a Melbourne-based newspaper: “All I know is that I had a go at her because they were not doing the right thing, but all they did was lock themselves in the office and would not even listen to me.
“I think they left about three weeks ago, and I do not think they would have been here for 12 months.”