Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The €1 billion paid out by insurance companies is the total of all their payments in respect of tests, bed charges in private hospitals, fees for consultants and outpatient fees. Bed charges in respect of all 2,500 private beds in public hospitals is only one aspect. If Deputy Twomey had read the documentation produced last year in respect of this initiative, he would have seen that the income foregone for the 1,000 beds is calculated at approximately €145 million. The Government stated that this income would be offset by lease payments to the State.

The €2 billion to which Deputy Twomey refers includes what he assumes will be a free transfer of State land. There will be no such transfer. The land will be leased and will earn income for the State. Currently, there is a zero return on that land to the State or to the health system. The flow of money is, therefore, wrong. Many Members previously served on health boards and beheld their vast land banks. It is time we took action and made that land pay a return to the Exchequer and the health service.

See this speech in context