I thank Deputy Wynne for her question. I am familiar with Cahercalla community hospital and Dr. Michael Harty, who used to sit on that side of the House in the previous Dáil. I visited the hospital and will meet Dr. Harty again in the next few weeks. The Deputy is correct, in that 3.5% of all nursing homes in Ireland are voluntary not-for-profits. They do not have the same economies of scale or the necessary capital to be HIQA compliant. I allocated €10 million in recent months to support such nursing homes in carrying out any works they needed to be HIQA compliant, with up to €25,000 for each nursing home, but I am conscious of the fact that the voluntary sector is challenged. We are examining this matter. I look forward to meeting Dr. Harty.

As the Taoiseach outlined in the House last week, the Government’s commitment is to sign the optional protocol during its term of office. Last August, my Department commissioned external legal advice to see where exactly we were non-compliant with the protocol and on what areas we needed to work. That legal advice will be coming to my Department in the next number of weeks. It is nearly completed. When I get it, I will bring a memo to the Cabinet setting out where the legislative changes needed in my Department and other Departments are while also creating an interdepartmental group so that we can progress those changes, given that some of them will be in other Departments. It is the ambition of the Taoiseach, me, the rest of the Government and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to sign the optional protocol in the remaining lifetime of this Government. Today, we are setting out a pathway for how we will achieve that.