Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In regard to an issue of importance for members of the Joint Committee on Health and Children, I ask the Leader if he can bring the Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts into this House. The Committee of Public Accounts has written to the Joint Committee on Health and Children to tell us we cannot deal with any of the organisations that are funded by the HSE. Approximately 25% of the HSE's budget, or €3.27 billion, is being paid out to 2,600 organisations. We are unable to examine how that money is being spent by these organisations because the Committee of Public Accounts claims it is the only committee that is entitled to examine this expenditure. It is only investigating two organisations but another 2,598 are also being funded by the HSE. The Chairman of the committee should be brought into this House and asked to explain why we are not allowed to do the job we were appointed to committees to do. We are not allowed to investigate how 25% of the HSE's budget is being spent. It is outrageous and the Committee of Public Accounts should stop acting as if it is in complete control of the health budget. The only way to achieve that is by asking the Chairman of the committee to come into the House to explain why an embargo is being imposed on members of the Joint Committee on Health and Children.