Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

This really is a right old mess. It is now generally accepted in the public mind that we have a tax and waste Government. We have seen the waste of money on e-voting and on PPARS, which already is about €130 million. We find that some 30,000 people are being paid using this system at the moment. Does the Minister yet know how many people are employed by the HSE and what the precise number is? This review follows after a ten-month period of review within the HSE. Why do we need another nine-month review period? I did not create that timescale. The HSE is telling us it will take up to nine months, which takes us beyond the next general election. How much will it cost? Will consultants be employed to carry out this work? At the end of the day what is the benefit in terms of ensuring we have a system, which has already cost the taxpayer enormous sums of money without any significant results?

It seems incredible, after years of PPARS, that the Minister is now reaching a point where a review is to be carried out in the context of a unified system. The HSE is a unified system. We have had a national health executive since 1 January 2005. How is it that at this point we are now facing another review? The Minister will not tell us how much it will cost, but I ask her to say what the budget for it is and whether yet more consultants are to be employed. It seems to me private consultants have made enough money out of this cash cow without shovelling more money at them. Who will do it? How much will it cost? How long will it take? How many people are working within the health service, which is the responsibility of the Minister?

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