Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am trying to answer Deputy Bacik's question regarding the issue of reimbursement of assessments of needs. That is something we will examine. In fact, we have started examining it already as a possibility. I have no ideological objection whatsoever when it comes to paying private practitioners. We do it in general practice, pharmacy and dentistry. We do it for private hospitals through the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF. I have never had any problem with that; others might or might have had in the past. I have never had a problem with using private practitioners to provide public services whatsoever. If we do, however, we need to get it right. We need to know how much capacity exists in the private sector. I am told it might not be that much, but we need to know. We also need to know what the legal basis for doing so would be. I know we cannot use the NTPF without a change to primary legislation, but changes to primary legislation are possible. We also need to consider unintended consequences. That is always a risk when we bring the private sector into providing a public service.

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