Dr. Ambrose McLoughlin:

I will deal with this matter as Secretary General. I am aware that the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, was very concerned about these matters when he took office and efforts were made in the autumn of 2011 to deal with some of these issues. When I was appointed Secretary General of the Department, I ordered a major review of financial management systems in the HSE. Those reports are currently being finalised and action is currently being taken.

I want to make it absolutely clear that I discussed these matters with the Minister and they have been discussed with our colleagues in other Departments. It is true to say there have been systems failures and there are issues that need to be addressed, including improving financial performance and ensuring we have financial accountability arrangements that are adequate. The Minister has already indicated that he is putting in place a financial improvement plan which will involve the enhancement of the capability of the HSE to deal with these issues both within each of the regions and with the PCRS.

One of the challenges is that we are planning to take the Vote back into the Department in January 2014. I assure the committee of the very best efforts of the Department working with the chief executive and the HSE to deal with some of these issues very quickly. In general terms, I can assure members we are dealing with these issues right now and we are planning a different approach to the service planning agenda in 2013 to 2015, inclusive.

We need to have regard to the fact that significant reforms are required in the HSE. The governance Bill is before the Houses of the Oireachtas. The Minister and the Department were very keen that the Bill would be advanced as quickly as possible so that we can have a much more structured, effective governance system within the health service and within the HSE for as long as it is there.

We welcome the opportunity to discuss the strategic issues with the committee and we will be very happy in due course to revert to the committee and give it a full account of the processes in place when the necessary policy decisions have been taken.