Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is entirely correct. As a member of the committee which published the report, he will be more familiar even than me with the debates which took place. The call for an impact study by the committee was sensible. We all want to get to a position where we can decouple the public from the private; certainly, I do. It is ethically questionable that we have a situation in the Irish health service today where emergency departments are crowded, there is a shortage of beds and public waiting lists are long while private practice carries on unabated and, sometimes, unchecked within public hospitals. None of us feel that is fair. The issue is exactly as the Deputy suggests. What would be the consequences of doing that, what road should we travel and how are these things to be disentangled? That is likely to take a number of years to determine, which is why the best thing to do is establish the independent impact study to provide a full appraisal of all of the facts. I spoke about this at the Health Management Institute of Ireland conference this week and expect to be in a position to announce details of the impact study in the coming weeks.

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