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

It is an old chestnut for those of us who have served previously on the Committee of Public Accounts. First, I find the situation unacceptable and we need to get the best value for money. This cannot be done unless there is a system in place to do so. We need to understand that the way the HSE has developed over the years, with chopping and changing, from the old health board system to the HSE, including changes at the institutional level, is part of the reason that this has happened. The other reason it has happened is that the HSE was not funded to have a co-ordinated system. It is only in recent years - I think in the past two or three years - a specific amount of money was allocated to IT systems that are essential to delivering this kind of outcome. It has to be seen as an investment rather than a cost, because ultimately we are going to pay the price for not having done that. We are appalling at institution building, and we do it in a very fragmented way. We must understand that there is a price to be paid for not getting these things right in the first instance. The additional correspondence will be of assistance in understanding the historical reasons, because we will make these mistakes again if we do not learn from those already made.