Ms Susan Cliffe:

We have a conflict of interest policy, as Ms Fitzgerald has set out there, and that begins from the time somebody takes up employment. It is one of the first conversations that they will have with their line manager where they will identify any centres. In my case, it would be for the team of inspectors of nursing homes, any nursing homes, where they may have worked, where they may have relatives who work or where they may have had some engagement through a former role, because we draw our people from the nursing home sector predominantly, the acute or the community health services. Ireland is a small country.

That conflict of interest policy is a dynamic process because things can change during the lifetime of your employment in the organisation. What we require is that somebody does not inspect a nursing home that they have worked in for a minimum of three years after they have started working with HIQA.