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The “lead” HIQA inspector who cleared controversial Beneavin Manor twice last year, despite almost 200 notifications of alleged abuse, worked in a sister nursing home on the same campus for two years, the Irish Mirror can reveal.
In a lengthy statement, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) denied any wrongdoing, saying that the nursing home had changed ownership between the time the person worked there and the completion of the inspections.
Beneavin Manor and The Residence in Portlaoise, Co Laois, were featured in an RTÉ Investigates documentary earlier this month.
The homes, which are run by Emeis Ireland, were widely criticised after the undercover footage of residents crying out for help, being left in soiled clothes, and being incorrectly handled.
An interim report from HIQA, published on Tuesday evening, revealed that there have been 198 notifications regarding suspected or confirmed allegations of abuse to residents in Beneavin Manor between January 2022 and June 2025.
The Irish Mirror can now reveal that a HIQA inspector who used to work in Beneavin House was involved in two inspections at Beneavin Manor last year, which found that the nursing home was mostly compliant.
Beneavin House, Beneavin Manor and Beneavin Lodge are all situated directly beside each other in Glasnevin. All are now owned by Emeis.
The inspector is listed as the “lead” inspector in two inspections at Firstcare Beneavin Manor on May 15 2024 and November 7 2024.
The May report found that Beneavin Manor was “compliant” or “substantially compliant” under most regulations. However, it was found non-compliant with three regulations, including governance and management, contracts for the provision of services, and food and nutrition.
The November report noted they were “compliant” and “substantially compliant” on all regulations.
According to LinkedIn, the person listed as the lead inspector on both reports worked as a Clinical Nurse Manager at Beneavin House Nursing Home between June 2015 and June 2017.
They then worked as director of nursing in two other nursing homes before moving to HIQA to become an inspector in September 2020.
In a lengthy statement, HIQA stated that the nursing home had changed ownership and the inspector had never worked for Beneavin House under the new ownership.
A spokesperson said that HIQA has a conflict of interest policy and “inspectors of social services employed to inspect nursing homes have often worked in nursing homes in the public or private sector or a combination of both” and that a “key requirement of any applicant for a job as an inspector is at least three years’ experience working in a supervisory or management position in a health or social care service, regulatory, or other setting deemed relevant by the Authority”.
They continued: “[Name] commenced work as an inspector of social services in September 2020.
“As is standard practice and in line with our conflict of interest policy, she was not required to inspect or to have regulatory oversight of those centres where she worked previously.
“As [she] was employed by Beneavin House Ltd, (the then owner of Beneavin House between 2015 and 2017), this centre and the other Beneavin Centres were not included in [her] caseload at that time.
“Given the passage of time and the change in ownership of the nursing homes in 2024, the issue of a conflict of interest was discussed again by [name] and her line manager with both satisfied that there was no longer any conflict of interest or any reason why [she] would not inspect First Care Beneavin Manor or the First Care Beneavin Lodge.
“She has not inspected First Care Beneavin House, the centre where she used to work.
“To be clear, [she] has never worked for Firstcare Beneavin House Ltd, the company that currently owns First Care Beneavin House, which was acquired by Emeis in 2024.
“In addition, [she] has not worked in Beneavin Manor or been employed by Firstcare Beneavin Manor Ltd.
“[She] has never been employed by Emeis or any of the companies that are owned or operated by Emeis.”
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