Mr. Paul Reid:

Yes, I will make some very brief comments on that. If Deputy Dillon looks back on 2020, there were probably three phases of our procurement and engagement with private hospitals. The first phase was literally seeking the full capacity of the private hospital system. That was purely on the basis that we knew we had just over 10,000 beds in the public system. All forecasts were saying we probably needed about another 7,000 or 8,000 beds capacity. That was based on forecasts of what was to happen. That was an agreement negotiated between the HSE and the Department of Health with the private hospital system.

Very briefly, and I will pass over to the CFO, the second phase of it was undertaken on a different basis. We moved from that first phase of full-secure to a more access to bed facilities to address non-Covid-19 care.

Equally, the stage we are at is that we have procurement contracts awarded based on certain specialties and activities we draw on now significantly. I will ask Mr. Mulvany to comment on the original agreement with the Department.