Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will move on to the €73 million in bad debts and the private hospital maintenance charge. Is this included as a bad debt when in fact, there can be something legally dubious about the demands if people are put under pressure? Is there any issue relating to this because it seems that this amount is growing every year? I believe this is what the former Minister for Health, Senator Reilly, intended it to be. Nobody has a dispute if it is about a private room.

Of course, there should not be a separation when a person attends at an accident and emergency department in terms of queues or the kind of treatment people receive. Are the witnesses certain that the private hospital maintenance charge is legally robust?