Michael Harty (Clare, Independent)
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I thank Dr. Turner for coming before the committee. I have two questions. When the CEO of the HSE, Mr. Tony O'Brien, appeared before the committee a number of weeks ago, he referred to the need for transitional investment funding to stimulate a change in the system to make it more efficient, change the emphasis from being on secondary care to primary care and begin the transfer of resources from secondary care to primary care services. What is Dr. Turner's view in that regard?

My second question is on the funding of a new single tier service. Dr. Turner suggests use of the taxation system is better than use of a social insurance system. In that regard, will he comment on the necessity to have co-payments for certain services? There would be a suite of services that would be free at the point of delivery but for other services there might have to be a co-payment or there would be others that would not be part of the single tier system.