Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise in advance as I need to attend a quick meeting. I will ask my questions but will check the answers and correspond. I hope I will be back before this meeting is finished.

I refer to the issue of stretched income targets. I believe Ms Cowan first alerted us to them some time ago. Reference was made to the difficulties they cause, and we attempted at that committee hearing to try to tease the issue out. It strikes me that they are still causing difficulties, despite the HSE's insistence that it is otherwise. What we saw on "RTÉ Investigates" was once again - RTÉ one; HSE nil. That is how these things work. What we saw involved a very small number of consultants. By not dealing with this, we do a grave disservice to all the consultants who work over and above their contracted hours.

I have had the honour and privilege of representing people who are not consultants and who see an upstairs-downstairs attitude in the HSE quite a lot of the time. I have seen people hauled over the coals for infringements of their contracts that are minuscule in comparison with what we saw on the "RTÉ Investigates" programme. Will the delegates address what appears to be a culture of deference in which some people are untouchable? They might also take this opportunity to talk about the consultants who are fulfilling their contracted hours and more.

In Ms Cody's statement she says the Department will shortly be engaging with the HSE in response to some broader issues the HSE has raised concerning oversight of the contract including the impact of the Health (Amendment) Act and the need for hospitals to collect private patient income. Perhaps the HSE can come in on this, as well as Ms Cody. When were those concerns raised? In what format were they raised? Who raised them and when were they discussed? I sincerely hope they were not raised immediately following the "RTÉ Investigates" programme. If they were raised before that and have been on the agenda, will Ms Cody outline what exactly is being done to ensure those issues are addressed? I am sure she will be happy to share that with us.

Mr. Woods has said the HSE does not co-ordinate data nationally and that some consultants work across hospitals. Obviously he knows they work across hospitals. I understood the purpose of the establishment of the hospital groups was to streamline some of this. Has anything actually been streamlined? I strongly suspect it has not but perhaps it has. Are there plans to streamline in that way because, having represented people who work in the health service, most of them can account for every minute they work and they do so because it is the requirement? Yet, there seems to be a small number of people who do not do this. As Deputy Billy Kelleher pointed out, a young fellow with a clipboard and a clicker was able to monitor the comings and goings of the staff. Does Mr. Woods accept what we saw in the "RTÉ Investigates" report as a factual account of what is happening in some instances? Is he prepared to hold his hands up to this and will he take any steps? If it was a porter in a hospital who had been found not to be working his or her contracted hours, I imagine the HSE would pursue him or her quite vigorously. Will Mr. Woods outline the plans to recoup that money which people have been given for work they did not do?

I apologise that I have to go, but I will be back.