Ms Mary Dunnion:

The first point, to nuance it, is that we see an urgent requirement for a maternity strategy to determine the type of maternity services being delivered in hospitals because the infrastructure and support structures of any hospital will dictate the type of service that should be there. We see that as a critically important component and, as a consequence, have again put in that recommendation.

When we were communicated with by the Minister for Health, the latter part of the terms of reference for the investigation into Portlaoise included the 19 hospitals. In the context of Cavan hospital, we have been dealing with the hospital and have had a full assessment of the three cases against the national standards for safer better health care and also how Cavan hospital has implemented the CMO's recommendations. The result is that they have demonstrated to us an assurance - we have not been in Cavan because it will be part of the monitoring of the 19 hospital - that there is matching against compliance with the national standards; their status of implementation of the recommendations of the CMO report; named accountability for implementation of those recommendations; and the timeframes in which they are to be implemented. We have established that with Cavan and we are monitoring that, as my colleague stated, in the context of our remit within HIQA.

We have taken what we found in May 2014 and used some of that to direct our inquiries in Portlaoise as part of an indicator of the lines of inquiry that we would take. We will be taking what comes from our findings in Cavan, our findings in Portlaoise and what we know should be in place, cognisant of the maternity strategy, and hopefully, much of that will be to the fore before the latter end of the year. All of that becomes part of the monitoring, the framework for which we have already begun designing for the 19 maternity hospitals with the intention of it being completed and published at the latter end of this year.