Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 9 July 2019
Committee on Budgetary Oversight
Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion
Mr. Colm Desmond:
I do not know the specific answer. It is a factual question and we can find a specific answer. If I had to surmise, I would suggest it was probably Children's Health Ireland, which is the main customer for the development board that is building the children's hospital.
The Deputy made a point about Government references to universality and removing private practice, and Sláintecare talks about that. Sláintecare talks about a process initially to look at what would that involve. However, the reality today, tomorrow and next week is that we have consultants who have contracts and those contracts allow for an element of private practice. I do not know if it is fair to say yet that it is Government policy.