Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)

Initially, I have to say I am absolutely horrified that HIQA representatives would come in here and say that RTÉ has more information than they do. You are the regulator of nursing homes. You are the people families put their trust in. That is beyond my scope of understanding, how you can say that to an Oireachtas committee.

I do not accept the explanation the witnesses provided earlier as to how HIQA stood over a substantially compliant report on nursing homes. They acknowledged there was significant change in staff and a difference in profile. Why did they not go back? That is one of my questions. I want to finish my questions first, because we do not have a lot of time.

Given that Beneavin in particular recorded almost 200 abuse notifications, why did HIQA not escalate these to potential systemic failures earlier? Why was An Garda Síochána not involved until after the "RTÉ Investigates" programme, and would the Garda ever have been involved if it had not been for the "RTÉ Investigates" programme? How many staff are working with HIQA as inspectors or in any other area that were previously employed by these nursing homes?