Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

This is the fourth time I have raised this question and got various answers but on the essence of publishing the information about the costs so we can establish why we are paying so much for the private hospitals, I am not getting an answer. I raised it once with the Taoiseach and three times with the Minister and, repeatedly, the phrase "open book" is used to explain it but I do not understand what "open book" means if the books are not actually open for people to be able to read them. I got a response yesterday from the Minister for Finance who refused to publish the final agreements with the individual private hospitals saying only that it could be considered but it may be "commercially sensitive". This is an issue of transparency when hundreds of millions of euro are being handed over to the private hospitals, including owners like Denis O'Brien and Larry Goodman.

We need the final agreements and the breakdown of costs to be published or this could prove to be another scandal in the making. I asked repeatedly if we are making payments, whether fees, interest or otherwise, to Denis O'Brien's Ragazza special purpose vehicle or other companies like the Goodman Group - companies which are registered in Luxembourg specifically to avoid paying tax on profits. The letter I received this morning from the Minister's office says that rent and interest that is a proper operating expense will be paid "regardless of who the ultimate beneficiary is". I read that as an admission that some of this money is going to companies in Luxembourg that are set up to avoid paying tax. Can the Minister confirm whether that is the case, and if so, how much is being paid? Will he publish the full cost breakdown in order that we can see for ourselves?

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