The Harley Medical Group will be pursued for any money spent by the State in providing consultations and treatment to women fitted with faulty breast implants, Health Minister Dr James Reilly has confirmed.

Taxpayers could face a bill of over €3m for the removal of faulty breast implants because a cosmetic surgery clinic who fitted them is not providing the care needed.

Private clinics which offered PIP breast implants in Ireland “can do what they want” because they are not regulated, the country’s medicines watchdog has said.