Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With the agreement of committee I will take my slot now to prevent us having to reschedule the speakers list. Ms Fitzgerald stated there is a dent in the armour. The stronger phrase is that the trust in HIQA and the regulatory regime has been damaged. I have seen a particular impact because Beneavin nursing home is in my own constituency.

I wish to acknowledge the immediate briefing which the three local TDs for our constituency received from HIQA. It was useful in terms of answering the questions of people who were in contact with us. The witnesses are right; they fell into different categories. There were people who were the subject of the RTÉ programme who had questions and there were people who were not the subject of the RTÉ programme but were resident in the nursing home at the time, some of whom had very positive experiences, while others had negative experiences and had made reports to HIQA. The most difficult group for me was people who had family members in Beneavin nursing home who had passed away. They were really struggling with what might have happened.

We should not underestimate the damage that was done. There is a wider impact on other nursing home providers not named in the programme, where a general doubt was rightly raised in terms of how older people are cared for. I put those questions to our witnesses in order to get on the public record some of the answers that were given to us at the original briefing. Ms Cliffe was helpful in providing information with regard to the immediate inspection response for Beneavin nursing home. When I say Beneavin nursing home, there are actually three nursing home providers on that site, all of which are under Emeis and within the Beneavin campus. Can Ms Cliffe tell me what immediate response was taking place in terms of visits to the site?