Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank our witnesses for all of the information they have provided and for their commitments to follow up on some of the information requested. As an aside, I welcome the fact that some Independent Members are now joining Sinn Féin's call for a domestic supply of personal protective equipment to be made available. We were a bit of a lone voice in that regard so it is very nice to have a few people join us.

I have a couple of questions. I have been trying to keep up with what was happening but I had a meeting in the middle of the session so if my questions have already been answered I can check the record. I believe it was Mr. Woods who said that private providers were being sought for diagnostics. What kind of value for money audits are carried out when engaging private providers? Does the HSE check over the last time it did business with a provider and the value for money it achieved? Are there any processes in this regard within the contracts? Is there an automatic review? It is hard to calculate but how can the HSE be sure the private sector provides the kind of value for money people seem to think it does?