Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The witnesses mentioned health insurance. The Milliman report shows that treatments that would take 3.6 days or 3.7 days anywhere else take 11.5 days here. We mentioned that to the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, and I think he asked Pat McLoughlin to look at it. It would be helpful if the business community were to state that it is a complete waste of money to keep people in hospital at a cost of thousands of euro a day.

According to the Wright report, only 7% of staff in the Department of Finance have any qualifications in economics. We cannot have that. That is not an appropriate way to respond to being bankrupt. I presume the corresponding percentage is lower in the other Departments. Sometimes that shows. We see in the Seanad that a Minister may be interested in reform, but the three or four civil servants behind the Minister keep passing him or her notes telling him or her not to do it. A strong business community should be alerted to what goes on in those situations.