Mr. David Delaney:

I can confirm that we have done over 300 inspections so far in 2025, 50% of which were by a third party and 50% by civil servants. A report is produced from each of those inspections. Those reports are published on gov.ie so they are transparent and in the public domain. The report is shared with the provider within a fortnight of the inspection and the provider must rectify all issues in the report within 14 days of receiving it. We would reinspect if needed. We would require evidence that all of the issues raised are rectified as part of the feedback from the provider. If the provider continuously fails to rectify as requested, there are clauses in the contracts that allow us to withdraw 10% of the payment requested. If there are ongoing issues, or a serious issue is identified and the provider does not rectify it, we will terminate the contract. So far this year, we have terminated 17 contracts with providers on the basis of non-compliance or non-performance. We take this very seriously. We also have HIQA inspecting about 50 centres a year as well.