Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not a believer in a financial penalty for a hospital because while it sounds like one is acting like a tough guy, it ends up being a circular flow of money. I am not suggesting the Deputy is saying that, but that is my view. We have allocated additional funding to the health service. The HSE will make sure to put that additional funding to use for patients and improved services. It will take into consideration in that context what targets to set hospitals based on canteens, restaurants, shops and car parks. I am not willing, pardon the pun, to give a hospital pass to managers who cannot hit targets when the constitutional office of the Comptroller and Auditor General has said our hospitals must do better in terms of collecting the income that people in these Houses voted to empower them to collect. We should not be letting people off the hook. These are the targets and people should be trying to meet them. We have additional funding which is now being put to use in the service plan which has been submitted to the Department and which I expect to publish within the next two and a half weeks.

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