Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In the opening set of questions to the Minister, I asked about the impact of the introduction and passage of the Health Service Executive (financial matters) Bill. The purpose of the Bill is to disestablish the HSE Vote. I want to know if the Minister is in a position to tell us when the Bill will be introduced and if it will do away with this democratic engagement. It is stated that the Bill will establish a statutory financial governance framework for the HSE. As members of the committee and democratically elected voices, we are anxious to know about these matters. If the Minister is not in a position to give us the detail here, perhaps he would be good enough to furnish us with a briefing note that could be shared at this point, given that the heads of the Bill have not been published and we have no further insight into it. I am concerned that the intent is to do away with the HSE Vote, which would undermine our democratic responsibility of oversight and scrutiny.

On the charge for private patients in public beds, I am not happy at all that the €60 million that was expected in 2013 was done away with and that in 2014 only €30 million is to be sought. Conscious of the potential impact of that, I believe the decision needs to be revisited. There is more potential there; it should be done and it should be pursued.

On the cost of drugs, has the Minister given any further consideration to the case I have made consistently, that we should go for the lowest cost? Currently, we access drugs on a cost basis that is based on the median of nine member states of the European Union when my strong view, which I have put to the Minister time after time, is that we should go for the lowest cost. We are being trapped into a situation where like is not being compared with like. Going for the median figure leaves us carrying a cost factor way in excess of other closely related and comparable democracies. I urge the Minister to seriously pursue that approach in the interest of arriving at the lowest possible cost for this State in the provision of drugs and other related medicines.