Mr. Bernard Gloster:

I do not want to confuse anybody, particularly as I am very conscious that there is a community involved and that people have concerns and a level of anxiety. We have wonderful staff down there as well. Dr. Daly will certainly agree that what I tried to reflect or what I hope I reflected to him was that regardless of what anybody says about the implementation of the Walker report happening at the time and the recommendations being followed, you clearly could not state today that they were implemented and sustained. To be fair to the Minister, as I understand it, HIQA did validate them at a particular point for the region. The region ticked the recommendations as being implemented but clearly what happened was that as matters progressed into 2023, there was a very significant slippage in the safety standard measurements at the hospital. I have no doubt of the bona fides of the people who said they were implemented at a certain point, but, in light of the evidence that I have, you could not credibly say that the implementation was maintained and sustained.