Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

Sinn Féin will not be opposing this Estimate. We recognise it is necessary for the long overdue payments to people who were wrongly charged for nursing home care and also for their heirs in many cases. We oppose the referral to the committee without debate. Our position has been vindicated by its appearance on today's Order Paper when the issues we raise will be lost in the welter of all the other issues that will be addressed today, the last day of the Dáil sitting.

Very serious issues have arisen regarding the tendering process for the Health Service Executive contract to administer the repayment scheme for people wrongly charged for nursing home care. During the debate on the legislation I raised questions about the wisdom of contracting out this contract to the private sector. Now we find that the firm selected wanted to outsource the work to India and that this may be in breach of European Union regulations. Regardless of whether it is in breach of EU regulations, this is yet another farce. It is incredible in the context of the nursing home repayment debacle.

Questions have also arisen about the way the tender was sought. It was reported on 28 June that KPMG, the private consortium selected by the HSE to administer the refund of nursing home charges, is to be paid up to €15 million for the job. The HSE has confirmed that that figure does not include value added tax, which means it will be much more. The HSE has also confirmed that the consortium plans to out-source some of the work involved in the administration of the refunds to India.

When that was first revealed, a question was raised about whether such outsourcing was permissible under EU regulations and data protection. The HSE has claimed that EU law facilitates the transfer of data outside the EU for processing where certain contract clauses are used. It said it had worked with the Data Protection Commissioner to ensure all necessary measures were in place to protect the confidentiality of information. Many questions arise about all of that and there is fairly universal concern, and not just on the Opposition benches. I ask the Minister to address it substantively in his closing remarks.

Will the Minister indicate if serious consideration was given to the carrying out of this work by the HSE? What are the working conditions of the people in India who will be doing this outsourced work? Will Irish taxpayers' money be used to the benefit of employers who may be exploiting workers with pay and conditions we would not tolerate in this country?

The HSE has said it initiated the tendering process last July but the initial process was abandoned and a second one started in February 2006. What was the reason for that? That must be explained. What was the difficulty with the first tendering process? A reply from the HSE to a parliamentary question from the Minister's colleague in Government, Deputy Glennon, stated that after short-listing 12 expressions of interest, three companies were invited to submit a tender. The HSE further stated:

The reason that the procurement process was terminated in 2005 was due to the fact that one of these tenders arrived late for consideration, a second tender was found to be materially non-compliant and the third tender was materially compliant subject to some minor issues. With only one tender remaining in contention, it was decided to fold the process and to commence a second process with the possibility of a more competitive market response.

The KPMG consortium has confirmed it was excluded from the first tendering process because its submission arrived late. It tendered again when a second competition took place and was successful. Again, it is reasonable that people would ask if the process was abandoned and restarted to ensure the successful tender by KPMG?

The Estimate before the House is for the €340 million due to be refunded this year out of some €1 billion overall due to people who were overcharged. That money must be allocated and paid out but we have every right to raise the questions that I and other Deputies have raised today. I hope the Minister will satisfy not only our intent at getting to the full facts but a much wider public interest.

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