Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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We will send a letter to IDA Ireland seeking an update on where the issue relating to ConnectIreland stands.

Today we are dealing with the Tax Appeals Commission and the Revenue Commissioners. The appropriation accounts for the Vote of the Department of Health, the HSE's financial statements for 2017, which were recently issued, and matters relating to consultants' pay, are on the agenda for next Thursday's meeting. The following week, on 12 July, we have the National Treasury Management Agency before us.

I want to make two comments on the work programme. I want to put the HSE on notice that we want it to deal with the following matters next week and I want to get this information to it. One is consultants' pay, which we already have on our schedule. This arose at our meeting earlier in the year. We are all aware of the situation whereby the HSE has private investigators following certain consultants. I asked a parliamentary question on what robust measures were in place to ensure that consultants comply with their contractual obligations. The reply I received from the Minister by written answer on 14 February stated it is the responsibility of management to make sure the contracts are being enforced, and that he had asked the HSE to ensure robust measures are in place in 2018. For next week, we want to know what measures have been put in place by the management of each hospital whose job it is, according to the Minister, to ensure that consultants comply with the contract. We want to know the hospitals where the private detectives were brought in. I do not know why they needed to be brought in if the hospital managers were doing their job. We want details of this. We also want the HSE to explain whether measures are in place anywhere to ensure that consultants comply with the contract. The parliamentary question to which I received a reply on 14 February can be referred to the HSE in order that it will be aware of the topic.

I will come to the CervicalCheck issue in a moment. However, the other issue I want the HSE to deal relates to a particular point. We received a letter from a dental surgeon about the dental treatment service. The scheme is very limited and covers people with medical cards and those classified by the HSE as high risk. That high-risk group includes individuals with intellectual disabilities or sensory deficits. Recently, the dental surgeon to whom I refer sought approval to carry out work on behalf of people considered high risk. They are all patients the dental surgeon has dealt with for years. One was a blind patient, another was a deaf and dumb patient and the third was a patient in HSE residential care. It would be normal for this work to be approved. The HSE wrote back to the dental surgeon seeking written medical evidence of the patients' sensory and intellectual deficits before it would approve the dental treatment, although they had nothing to do with dental treatment. It wanted medical evidence of the disabilities. The dentist claims the disabilities had no relevance. I know the HSE needs procedures in place but the dentists cannot do their work. The HSE has asked for medical evidence for every high-risk patient It is awful for the dentist to have to say to his blind patient, his deaf and dumb patient, and his patient with an intellectual disability in residential care that a medical report on their position is required before he can do the dental work. This seems to be creeping into HSE. I want the HSE to give us a full briefing note to explain why it is going down this road.

It states in all its correspondence that it needs this information for other purposes in order to ensure that no claims that are not valid are being processed under the system. I think it has lost a bit of humanity in its approach.

That brings us to our second issue. I want the HSE to give us a detailed report next week on where the process of recruitment relating to the new director general of the organisation stands. I do not know whether the HSE or the Department of Health is here next as well. Brendan Drumm was the first director general or chief executive officer of the HSE from 2005 to 2010. Then we had Cathal McGee from 2010 to 2012 and Tony O'Brien from 2012 to 2018. John Cunningham is currently in the role in an acting capacity. A lot of people will feel that over the period since 2005, women's health has not been adequately dealt with by the HSE. We have had the recent cervical cancer issue, breast cancer issues and maternity services issues. I might be challenged on this but I urge those who are responsible for recruitment to give strong consideration to the argument that a woman should be the new director general of the HSE. We have had excellent men but I believe a woman could bring something to the role in terms of putting patients first. I ask that it be given a high mark on the scoring of any application. People may say we are straying off track. It is my own view and I am not asking the committee to endorse it. I will make that point to the witnesses next week.