Ms Linda Kelly:

We are going on media reports here because of the lack of transparency from the employer. There is an eight-person productivity and savings task force that is co-chaired by the CEO of the HSE and the Secretary General of the Department of Health. The maths mean there are six other people on it. The Sunday Independent reported that a number of members of that task force are employed by a for-profit consultancy firm. I will defer to the Cathaoirleach's comments about naming but that was on public record in terms of the cost of the spend on those workers.

On strategic planning and business improvement, what we know is there is more than one company. When we request contracts or clarity about the tendering process for those companies, we are not provided with same. We have taken a decision as a union that we do not attend meetings where those private, for-profit consultants are also in attendance. That caused a number of meetings not to happen for a long period. Essentially, they are in rooms taking a record of the meeting, dictating the agenda and coming up with the outputs of the meeting. That is really concerning. Why are we spending €79 million on those firms to do the work of the HSE? That is very concerning and problematic.