Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On contingency, last year the Termination of Pregnancy Act was passed. Hopefully free contraception will be coming down the track. Those should be once-off payments on the balance sheet.

I refer to the chairman's history at Macmillan. I am greatly concerned about the privatisation of certain segments of our health service, including primary care centres. Does the chairman see his background as being beneficial to a health service or is he insufficiently familiar with the Irish health service to say? Does he think that having charitable organisations or private companies managing certain sectors is the way forward or does he feel they merely have a role to play? The NHS is a public service. When I worked in it there was no private provision but there is a move towards private provision now. I am concerned with the mindset.