David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Regarding corporate function and the memo signed off on by Cabinet, can Mr. Kearns square this with what is in his opening statement? I agree we need a HSE centre to provide governance, clear guidance and consistency. I think we all accept that. We need a lead HSE centre. However, when it states that the HSE centre provides all corporate functions, including all central procurement, central finance control, central HR functions and ICT support, the fear is that if this was implemented, everything would stay the same at the top and we would just reconfigure underneath. Nothing would change - no board, no legal entity and no legal powers. It would not be the employer. It would be rearranging the deck chairs and yet all the main corporate functions would stay at the centre when we know it takes far too long to get capital projects done and to recruit staff and we need much greater flexibility. What is in that business case again suggests that we need a shift in that attitude. Does Mr. Kearns agree with that? What is his opinion?