Ms Louise McGirr:

From our perspective, we are satisfied on the most important point, which is that the practice of advance payments was very quickly stood down. The issue applied only for a very short time. It is fair to say it was very condensed. We fully support and accept the HSE's assurances that all of that has ceased. Normal procurement procedures have kicked in following the crisis.

Regarding future preparedness, the Deputy will be aware from previous discussions on this issue that there is significant annual investment in our Health Research Board, HRB, part of which is around pandemic preparedness. There is significant work going on at EU level on procurement generally across member states and how that is best done. We are looking at how all countries were in the same position and everybody was competing and bidding for things. There is a significant look across multiple layers around how Ireland is prepared. That is also happening at EU level in terms of procurement and other issues. There is a lot going on in this regard. We can provide more detail on that to the Deputy.