Mr. Jim Breslin:

I am happy to share the correspondence. There is a great dealing of tick-tacking with NHI, as the representatives of the sector, across a range of issues. During this period, that range of issues was connected with Covid. It related to specific issues and also their seeking engagement and representation on various structures. At the time, NHI sought representation on subgroups in NPHET that had been set up. Some of those subgroups had been doing the work of designing financial support schemes for the sector, so we did not consider that that was the appropriate course. NPHET is an expert group, and has HIQA on it as the representative of the regulator of the sector.