Mr. Jim Breslin:

Part of it is terminology. Whereas the term "nursing homes" might not be used, if one looks at the national action plan, there are quite a number of references to long-term care for older people and care for older people, transitional and long-stay beds. Simply using "nursing homes", therefore, would not give the full spread of actions that are in that action plan. As to NPHET, again while the words "nursing homes" might not have been used, there were ongoing reports in to NPHET from HSE community operations, that is the non-hospital side of the HSE, which would have extended to nursing homes and issues of preparedness and long-stay facilities.