Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was here two or three weeks ago and I asked the Taoiseach about an alleged underspend under the Primary Care Reimbursement Service, PCRS, for new drugs. We budgeted €30 million to be spent by the Minister in 2022, but I am being told that only €9.4 million of that has actually been drawn down. As a follow-up to that, I am still awaiting the Taoiseach's response. Yet, there seems to be a lot of secrecy around the national clinical programme, NCP, and the level of detail they are willing to give to me via a parliamentary question. I cannot find out if they are subject to audit, how often their performance is reviewed or how successful they are at doing their job. I am finding it very difficult to get straight answers to very simple questions, such as, for example, how many times the chief clinical officer has briefed the Minister for Health. That is another question to which I cannot get a direct response.

Can I get clarification on the money that was or was not drawn down? In the interests of transparency and so on, I just want to see if we are spending and allotting that money as budgeted for. If we are not doing so, can we not get the NCP to answer some basic questions?

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