James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)

In relation to Children's Health Ireland, I will try not to use the word "shocking" too much when I am on this committee, but it does seem to me to be shocking that Children's Health Ireland lost a quarter of a million euro because it simply had not submitted the forms to the private insurer on time. In the context of the overall revenue of Children's Health Ireland, it is a small amount, but in the real world, a quarter of a million euro simply evaporating because, procedurally, the relevant forms were not submitted is really demoralising and bad. Does Mr. McCarthy have any additional information that has been supplied to him by Children's Health Ireland in relation to this issue? If he does not, subject to his answer to that, perhaps we might write to Children's Health Ireland in advance of it coming before the committee asking it to give a full account of the control mechanisms that are in place in respect of this issue and how forms are submitted to private insurers. Was the board informed in relation to this? What actions has it subsequently taken to ensure something like this would not take place again?

Regarding the remuneration of the previous CEO, will Mr. McCarthy elaborate on the detail of this? I do not want to presuppose what the facts are because I am not overly familiar with what is publicly available on the facts in relation to what happened. A CEO resigned and a mediation process took place and, arising from that, that person now has a role as strategic director in Children's Health Ireland. I am just trying to understand. Mr. McCarthy said that he flags these things generally. Is there anything else that he wants to flag in relation to that outcome?