Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I support the suggestion to write to the pre-hospital emergency board. I ask that we get details of the number of people impacted and, on an anonymised basis, of the liability, so that we can get an idea of the scale of the impact. The total turnover is €4 million and €800,000 is 20% of that. It is a very significant amount of money and we need to get to the bottom of it.

On the accounts for Children's Health Ireland and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, it is important members read the statement issued by the Committee of Public Accounts on 5 November. The Chair expressed a view that many members had, which was that effectively CHI and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board had a strategy of waiting out the dissolution of the Dáil. There was a date agreed. That date was put to them and an issue arose whereby neither body was able to attend. We believed that to be unacceptable. The Dáil was sitting, though it was facing dissolution, yet the previous Committee of Public Accounts was not able to ask the questions it sought to ask. It is worth members going back and looking at that statement. That is important.

The Angela Kerins judgment has had a significant impact on the way we do our work because we are obliged to give good notice of the areas we will be raising, as well as in terms of remit with other committees. Given the Comptroller and Auditor General has presented new accounts to us and these matters are raised in the audit, I suggest we notify them that we intend to raise the payments for private health insurance and severance arrangements.

I would like to pursue with them the use of the National Treatment Purchase Fund for operations within the hospital group. My specific interest is in orthopaedic operations. I am not seeking to extend our remit beyond financial concerns. The health committee will deal with the fall-out of the investigation but I would like to get some answers on how the National Treatment Purchase Fund channels funding into operations, specifically in orthopaedics.

I suggest we include the two points the Comptroller and Auditor General raises and notify them that we will be raising those, and that we include the NTPF funding of operations in the hospital with a focus on orthopaedics.

I would like to get the advice of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the following. It is often the case severance packages are required to have sign-off from a Department. Do we believe that happened or do we need to ask representatives from the Department of Health about that, as they may be here anyway?