Mr. Tony O'Brien:

I would be happy to. My opinion on Console is that the audit report clearly pointed to systemic issues. One of the consequences of that is that Console is no longer here and the HSE no longer funds it. The HSE had to be clear about ensuring there was a replacement service before defunding. It remains the case that what the internal auditors found was the flagrant misuse of charitably given funds, not HSE funds. That went right to the heart of the honesty of the HSE's relationship with that organisation, which meant that it could no longer have such a relationship. That does have generalisable lessons, to use the phrase I used at the time, which does affect the way both internal audit, management and the compliance unit relate to those types of organisations.

On the other issues, on a quarterly basis the national director for internal audit presents a report at the national leadership team meeting of the HSE which covers all the audits concluded in that period, with a summary of all the findings, graded by classification. The findings and their generalisability are discussed, and then there is a process as part of that report of tracking the extent to which recommendations have or have not been closed out in terms of previous audits. These audits are taken seriously. They are used as a way of changing the way the HSE carries out its business as an organisation.