Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If the Tánaiste followed yesterday's meeting, he would know that at the tail end of the exchange with the Committee of Public Accounts, the information regarding the payments to the Mater hospital was unearthed. He also might have noticed, were he tuned in, that the HSE knew absolutely nothing about that. The top human resources person in the HSE was left dumbfounded by that revelation. Not alone was he unaware of that relationship between the CRC and the Mater in respect of pensions, he could not tell committee members whether other section 38 organisations had a similar arrangement. This is the level of attention that has been paid in real terms to the detail and the proper governance of the €1.6 billion that goes annually to section 38 organisations. Moreover, the Government has not been sure-footed on this matter.

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