Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I am making substantial changes to the heads of the medical practitioners Bill as we must ensure we get this right. It is better to do so and have the Bill next year than to have it as it is this year. I have given a commitment to the House that I will publish the heads of many of the Bills Deputy McManus mentioned, as it would be helpful from the point of view of public debate.

No legislation has been promised on accountability. Perhaps Mr. Kelly was speaking about regulations that can be made under the Act we passed before Christmas 2004. The issue of charges has consumed many of my Department's resources over the past three months in terms of finances and manpower owing to the issue's implications. It is a current priority as we must make repayments to honour the Supreme Court decision on the one hand and seek to protect taxpayers' money as best we can to invest what resources are available in health care on the other.

There will be a Supplementary Estimate for this year but not to get additional moneys for the areas Deputy McManus mentioned. People must learn to live within their budgets. We are spending a considerable amount of time on this. Budgets for hospitals have doubled in recent years. However, a Supplementary Estimate will be needed because we were unable to charge for the first three months of 2005 since December 2004, for example, which brings a shortfall of almost €40 million to the health service. We must deal with this and other issues concerning the change of accountability from the Department to the HSE.

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