61A.—(1) A home care provider shall give notice in writing to the Health Service Executive, as soon as it is practicable for the provider to do so, of—

(a) the name and address of the provider,

(b) the name and address of each person to whom the provider provides home care services,

(c) the nature of such services so provided, and

(d) particulars of any change to information previously given by the provider to the Executive under any paragraph (including this paragraph) of this subsection.

(2) The Health Service Executive may, for statistical purposes, retain and process information given to it under subsection (1) and may publicly disclose—

(a) any particulars of home care providers who are legal persons, or

(b) any statistics arising from such retention and processing of such information.

(3) In this section—

"home care provider" means a natural or legal person who, whether or not pursuant to arrangements referred to in section 61(1), provides, at a charge, home care services;

"home care service" means a service made available in a private dwelling for a person who, by reason of illness, frailty or disability, is unable to provide the service for himself or herself without assistance;

"private dwelling", in relation to a person referred to in the definition of "home care service", means a permanent dwelling that is not open to the general public to visit unless invited and where that person habitually resides.]