Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I have a couple of questions of my own. I was quite surprised that HIQA's opening statement it made such an assumption in relation to the committee pursuing a commissioning model. That took me aback somewhat. Obviously, with the purchaser-provider split, there are different systems that can be used such as the money follows the patient or activity-based funding. I wonder why HIQA made that assumption. What are the main arguments in favour of having that purchaser-provider split and has HIQA an estimate of the additional costs involved, in terms of regulation, if we were to move to a commissioning model?

Another question I have relates to the health technology assessment. In what areas has HIQA done those assessments and are they publicly available?

Finally, on the capital investment programme in health which we have not touched on that much in the context of this session, HIQA might comment on the requirement for capital investment, in particular, in the primary care area.