Dr. Geraldine Smith:

I should point out that the Master of the National Maternity Hospital was in contact with the HSE following the relevant meeting and met the director general on the day after that meeting took place. The director general asked the master to provide substantiating documentation, which I was to review. Following several communications between then and 6 December, the master had not provided that information. We had sought details of any agreement between the trust and the hospital - details of payslips or bank transfers from the trust to the hospital - but these were not forthcoming. We were very specific in respect of the type of documentation we were seeking. In addition, I sought four years' worth of documentation in order to substantiate the trend and I specifically requested that the information should relate not only to the master but also to those other members of staff who have been identified.