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

I thank the witnesses for coming in and for their patience. Please excuse the pun. I thank them for their patience with the system as it is. I am almost fully aware of the challenges that they face every day. I seek clarity on a few things. The National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, is often lauded. Yesterday was budget day and the fund had €100 million as of this budget, if my memory serves me correctly, having had €75 million last year. It is always lauded as being great that this spend exists. As some of the witnesses probably know, I work as a pharmacist at times but have worked in the hospital sector too. It seems that part of the health service is essentially subcontracted to a private company, whether in Dublin or abroad, and it is not as simple as just having a great value service. It is a success for somebody who gets an operation done abroad. Will the witness who is best placed to explain tell the committee and people at home what the impacts of that are? A person might get the operation but what about administration and follow-on care? It is an expensive way of doing business, from my reading of it.