Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

Members must be careful not to abuse their privileged rights. The company in question has vehemently denied the Deputy's suggestions. I understand many newspapers, on receiving correspondence from the company, did not continue to report on the story. I am not an advocate for any company. Any company that might be awarded a contract by the Health Service Executive would be obliged to be subjected to a robust due diligence process.

As for co-location, on which another question has been raised, there has been significant expression of interest. On average, there have been approximately six bidders per site, many of which are Irish companies. The entire purpose of that initiative is to provide additional public bed capacity at less than half the cost of using traditional methods. Furthermore, currently the State pays 100% of the capital cost of private beds in public hospitals and staffs them. It pays all the revenue costs while the insurance or self-payers only contribute approximately 45% to 50% of the cost of those beds. From a patient perspective, this does not make sense.

Health care pertains to the provision of high quality services and I do not believe we should have any ideological blinkers as to how that might happen. We have public provision, not-for-profit provision and for-profit provision. For example, the Bon Secours group is a not-for-profit organisation that provides outstanding health care. Hence, it is not the case that we must go exclusively one way or the other. The different methods of funding health services should complement one another provided the criteria are based on quality of service. Quality of service to patients is my only interest.

See this speech in context