Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No; I understand the name of the HSE will not be published, o those of other bodies might not be.

I will move on to a procurement issue. The witnesses heard my comment that the HSE's annual report noted how €56.5 million in contracts had been awarded by the executive without a competitive tendering process. Moreover, this figure has escalated to being much worse than in the previous year. I refer to the area of procurement, albeit not specifically about these breaches. I wish to discuss a television programme which all members saw some months ago. The witnesses will remember the programme to which I refer, the subject of which was Eurosurgical Limited contracts. I note that some of the hospitals identified are HSE hospitals, including St. Columcille's and Mullingar hospitals - there may be others - in which there was an issue regarding what were called kickbacks as shown in the aforementioned RTE programme for arranging procurement orders from a medical supplier. I am merely citing the contents of a public television programme. Some of it concerned the private sector, where the staff members concerned were dealt with promptly because it was a serious breach of their contract of employment. Am I correct in stating those employees paid by the taxpayer through the HSE, including those in St. Vincent's University Hospital which was mentioned and is funded by the taxpayer - are still on the payroll, despite what happened, as shown in the aforementioned television programme? Is the taxpayer still paying the salary or a payment in lieu of salary where the person concerned is not actually at work at this time? The witnesses should contrast this with what happened at the Beacon Hospital, a private company that also was implicated in the same programme in similar circumstances. Why does the HSE continue to pay the people involved? It was a gross breach of any person's contract of employment. The witnesses might also indicate the current status of the HSE's investigation because shortly after this issue had emerged, the Minister announced that the HSE would suspend all payments to the company in question. Did this happen? Obviously, this is a major systemic issue if it has happened in several bodies, some of which are HSE hospitals, while others are hospitals funded by the HSE and the taxpayer. It had been ongoing for a considerable time. I understand the HSE conducted an internal audit in some of these places but found nothing amiss. What is the current position on overcharging? Are taxpayers still dealing with the company that did this to them?