David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to move on to the regional health areas. We have had good discussions with Mr. Woods and others, and Leo Kearns who chairs the advisory committee has been before this committee. It is an important part of how healthcare reform is done. A concern, which I will not overstate, is mentioned in Mr. Mulvany's opening statement where he makes reference to some issues of concern that we would have. He spoke about some of the devolved functions "as appropriate". That is what we need to get to. What exactly are those devolved functions going to be? I know this is being worked out, but we still have no clarity on what exactly the HSE centre will be responsible for, what the RHAs will be responsible for, and what the head of the HSE and, consequently, the CEOs of the RHAs will be responsible for. Mr. Mulvany talked about it very well when he talked about the what - what are the priorities? What are the spending priorities? What are the health priorities? Who is responsible for that? The how is a bit easier to understand, because that is an obvious one for RHAs. Once we know what we are doing the regional health areas will do it. However, the actual what, no pun intended, in terms of what we do and what the priorities are, is the important issue and dilemma. I acknowledge it is complex and we are all trying to tease it out, but will Mr. Mulvany and maybe Mr Watt, give their view on what they see those functions being. When we get to what will those RHAs do, how devolved will those functions be, and how do they see the HSE? Whoever gets the job as the new head or CEO of the HSE, what will his or her functions be?