Jim Glennon (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this important issue on the Adjournment and thank the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, for agreeing to respond, having survived the previous few minutes.

This issue unfortunately arises from the nursing homes refund scheme. I say "unfortunately" because the scheme has had an unfortunate history. I have no wish to add to that other than to say that certain matters have been brought to my attention regarding the administration of that scheme and the award of contracts in that regard which are worthy of pursuit and investigation. We are aware that our health system is in no way perfect, since that can be true of no country. Equally, every Member is aware anecdotally of some difficulties on the procurement side, whether it be of a single can of paint by the lowest store man to the awarding of contracts. I do not want to deal with the PPARS system whose very mention sends something of a shudder down everyone's spine.

If the problems in health service procurement were resolved, even to a significant degree, we would have done a major service to the health system and gone a long way towards resolving the problems. My interest in this issue is on behalf of an unsuccessful party to the tender process, an operator in my constituency where jobs are at issue, as well as on behalf of some very concerned senior staff members of the Health Service Executive and the taxpayer.

We have a duty to pursue genuine issues, and in that regard, as the tendering process is now complete and the cooling-off period has expired, we should, with complete transparency, investigate the issues arising, especially those to which I referred in my request for this Adjournment debate. We must have the names of the tendering companies, their ranking by price, the HSE's policy on outsourcing work relevant to the project, particularly to the Indian subcontinent, and the advice given to tenderers relevant to such outsourcing at inception and conclusion of the tender process. Was the lowest tender accepted, and if not, why not?

I assure the House that this is by no means a witch hunt but an entirely legitimate and justified inquiry whose purpose is to ensure that fairness and equity prevailed in the process at all times. I look forward to a comprehensive response from the Minister and firmly take the view that anything less will only give rise to further questions and serve no one, least of all the clients due to benefit from the running of the scheme.

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