Officials in the former northern area health board were told by a consultant psychiatrist in January last year that seven public patients transferred to Leas Cross Nursing Home from St Ita's hospital in north Dublin had died within three to four months.
Around 20 elderly patients from St Ita's, in nearby Portrane in north Dublin, were sent to Leas Cross as part of a programme that began in September 2003.
On January 9th, 2004, a consultant specialising in psychiatry of old age at St Ita's wrote to a senior official in the corporate governance section of the former health board pointing out that three of these patients had died over the Christmas period.
She also maintained that four others had died in the months between September and Christmas.
It is understood that two of the former patients of St Ita's who died in Leas Cross were in their 90s, three were in their 70s and two were in their late 60s.
The consultant's letter does not contain any comment about the deaths in Leas Cross.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny on Tuesday maintained in the Dáil that a separate confidential report on Leas Cross had highlighted "unusually high mortality rates" in the nursing home. A draft of the report, drawn up by Martin Hynes, the former head of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, had been given to health authorities in Dublin last autumn.
The Hynes report is understood to be very critical of the standard of care provided to a 60-year-old man with Down syndrome and Alzheimer's (not one of the public patients from St Ita's) who died two weeks after being admitted to Leas Cross.
The Hynes report, which will be published at the end of the month, will also implicitly criticise the way health authorities inspected Leas Cross.
The owner of the Leas Cross home, John Aherne, said last night he could not comment on medical issues about the facility.
However, he said he was satisfied with the level of care provided to residents there. He said there had been no negligence in the home.
Yesterday, as an alternative to the plan to move residents from the home, Mr Aherne offered the HSE a free lease on the Swords, Co Dublin, facility for six months, during which new staffing levels recommended by the HSE are put in place.
In a letter delivered to the HSE yesterday morning, he said the offer was prompted in part by the prospect of the residents' "best interests being jeopardised" by the HSE's proposals to move them from Leas Cross.
A spokesman for the HSE (Northern Area) said that it was considering the proposals.
Mr Aherne said he did not know what would happen to the home after the six-month period, and refused to comment further until after the HSE had made a decision on the matter.
However, he said the move would personally cost him a significant amount of money.
Lucy Clifford, whose mother Anne Hanlon is a resident of Leas Cross, said she thought Mr Aherne's proposal was a "great idea".
However, she warned the move would need to be accompanied by the necessary extra medical staff. Any such staff provided by the HSE should also not be withdrawn after the six month period.