Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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We will note and publish this. All these replies will feed into our next report. We may be here in the new year to deal with that.

No. 2487 B is from Mr. Ray Mitchell of the Health Service Executive, providing information requested by the committee. There is quite a bit here. The HSE witnesses will be here in a couple of weeks so we will be able to interrogate them further on these matters, but we will note and publish the correspondence for today. An information note has been provided on risk analysis in respect of decision-making for public private partnerships, PPPs, for health centres. Regarding the chapter in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General for this year, the witnesses will be coming in to deal with this in a couple of weeks. I will confirm what else is in the letter, sighing in the process. There is a reference to cash advances to section 38 organisations. Deputy Kelly mentioned this matter. On the top of page 3, there is a reference to the total payments to the section 38 and 39 organisations in 2018, amounting to €3.258 million for section 38 organisations and €1.025 million for section 39 organisations. We asked for details on cash advances. The letter is internally self-contradictory because it states all cash balances are to be neutral at the end of the year and then it states there was €73.6 million outstanding at the end of 2018. The essence of what is being said is that one gets an advance during the year that is to be paid back by the end of the year. They give us the year-end outstanding balance saying it will come off next year. Therefore, it is not neutral in the year, although that is the impression the HSE has been giving us up to now. We will tease this out further.

There is further information on the cross-border initiative and its cost. There is a note on the arrangements for holiday cover in respect of home help. I will raise this myself again. It is a new departure to cancel cover for people. Cover is provided when home helps go on holidays on a priority basis. That was not the case in the past. We will be coming back to this with the HSE in a couple of weeks.