Department of Health officials tonight insisted reforms were being brought in to improve nursing home inspections after a report revealed eight units in north Dublin were not checked over a six month period.
The Health Service Executive said the report, which examined 29 private nursing homes from 2003 onwards, was related to past inspections.
The independent report was commissioned by the HSE after the Leas Cross controversy.
"This is an historic report and reflects the position at over a year ago," the HSE said in a statement.
"We now have a new inspection regime in place nationwide which is now a consistent and robust regime, which involves amongst other things, completely unannounced visits and inspections and greater emphasis on patient care, whereas before there may have been greater emphasis on infrastructure."
The HSE, however, accepted inspections could have been more thorough in the past. The report recommended an overhaul of the nursing home inspection process and make-up of inspection teams.
But a HSE spokesman insisted the Department of Health was legislating to have independent inspections brought in. "In the interim," he said, "the HSE maintains a very high standard of inspections."
It is understood a working group has been set up to work out how nursing home inspection results can be made public as soon as they are available.
One avenue being investigated is using the internet, but a number of legal issues have to be resolved beforehand.