Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 6 October 2022

Public Accounts Committee

2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (Resumed)

9:30 am

Photo of Neasa HouriganNeasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Okay. I will keep my eyes peeled for more communication.

In the two and a half minutes I have remaining, I will ask a quick question for clarity on the debt that is in question. I do not want to say it is owed by the HSE to Dublin City Council, given that the witnesses say it is not owed. As a former member of Dublin City Council, this is something that I did not realise.

There seems to be an acceptance within Dublin City Council, DCC, that this is owed. Obviously, the HSE is at odds with that.

Can I just understand this a bit better? The HSE awards the council €9.19 million per year to run the service. The debt that is outstanding, which is at question here, is now at the figure of €116.8 million. Within that context, the chief executive, Owen Keegan, has also made the point recently that costs have risen steadily, in line with the cost of everything else over the last couple of years. The council suggests that the cost of the Dublin Fire Brigade, DFB, emergency ambulance service is expected to reach approximately €26 million. For my own clarity, are we not accepting that all of that figure of €116 million is a debt that is owed?