Mr. Damien McCallion:

As the commission’s report was being produced, the Minister of State would have been briefed.

On the individual issues, one case in the mid-west, where 140 cases were identified, was actually identified by the service in its own risk assessment. The commission noted it in the report. It was not necessarily that the commission had to uncover it. The issues were dealt with. All issues concerning clear patient safety concerns were addressed. We have an escalation policy that involves notifying the Department and so on. Where there is an issue of major concern in any individual case or where there is a tragedy, there is a protocol that we follow. In this instance, issues were identified in some cases by the service and in others by the commission, but they were then resolved. If something were serious, obviously the Minister would be notified in regard to it. There is a threshold; if there were not, a Minister would be notified of a huge number of issues almost daily. That is the context.