Mr. Bryan Meldrum:

Indeed. That alliance will continue. One will need a number of different providers. That is the point I am making. A number of different providers will be required to have that continuum of care, whether it be genuine support or advanced personal care. One needs a structure to be able to do that. With regard to why older people went into residential homes quicker than anywhere else in Europe, there was no formal assessment process in the early days. That has now ceased and there is now a formal assessment for anyone who is of the age and meets the entitlement. The fair deal scheme has been reorganised to ensure that the person who requires a home can get access to it and avail of that service. There is now a greater assessment, where there was no such assessment in the early days, and that is what seemed to contribute to the higher than EU average.

The aim of regulation of the tender was to bring some regulation at a stage that the HSE could monitor. It contracted out to private providers and not-for-profit providers. Everyone was eligible to participate within the tender. As part of that, they were able to introduce some standards much earlier than they could have otherwise, because the earliest they could do so through the legislation was 2016.