Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

Sometimes, I come to the House and I am not exactly sure of the relevance of individual Bills or of what negative point the Opposition might make that day. The Opposition could not make a negative point today because this Bill speaks to the core of something we talk about in the country so often. We talk about money being spent, who spent it, why it was spent, who is to blame and where the accountability is. Unfortunately, we sometimes see increases in budgets but we do not necessarily get the returns. On Leaders' Question yesterday, the issue of all the extra money we are spending came up. It is a question of whether we are getting enough back. This Bill allows the Minister to be able to hold people to account, ask questions and do so in a robust and systematic way we may not have been able to do formerly.

Since coming to Leinster House, I have seen different parts. At the public accounts committee, that is what we do quite often - we ask afterwards. We ask questions about how money was it spent. This Bill will allow the Minister to have a key role in that.

I am a TD in north Kildare, which is a rapidly growing location. It is in rapid need of improved community service. This will help with that. It will reinforce the shift towards better-managed community care with clear leadership and planning. Ultimately, that is what we need.

The Bill also clarifies and strengthens the responsibility of the HSE board itself. It makes the board and the CEO legally accountable for good governance. We know that the CEO's intention will always be to do the best while always ensuring there is good governance, but that does not necessarily end up being the case. As an accountant myself, I have seen it over the years as an auditor. There might be financial controls in place but they are not always the best controls. Indeed, the service is not always delivered in the best way possible. However, this Bill gives the Minister for Health a more hands-on approach and a possibility of ensuring those jobs are being done well.

The HSE itself, as we know, and as Deputy Devlin said earlier, has a significantly larger budget. It has a huge budget - the largest health budget we have ever set. Sometimes, the problem is that so many people have a view about this. It has been said over generations, even when the budgets were much smaller, that no matter how much money is put into the health system, we will not fix it. That is an awful way for any country, any set of politicians or the public to view any system. It is awful that our health system, the most important part of our government, should be perceived in that way. Once again, the Bill will help to stop that.

If spending limit thresholds are broken, the CEO must notify the board and the Minister for Health and must propose corrective actions to stay within budget. That has not always been the case historically. Sitting at home listening to the radio over the years before I was involved in politics, there was always the fear that these issues could arise and we would only find out after. With this Bill, there will be a stronger role for the Minister. The Minister will have greater oversight powers to ensure compliance, service plans are delivered and there is financial accountability. If the HSE itself fails to act on overspending or underperformance, the Minister can take directive action. It is important we have that in legislation because that is key. Ultimately, we want our politicians - I include myself in that - to be held accountable. We also want to be in a position to hold others accountable who are acting on behalf of the public and, in many cases, the taxpayers who enable us to run the State as we do.

The annual performance review will require detailed annual reports on how the HSE is meeting service targets and financial responsibilities. As we all know, financial reports are not about a set of numbers. There is also the picture behind that and how it builds towards it. Therefore, it is important that we are clear because that will help to emphasise the transparency and accountability to the Oireachtas and to the public, to whom we are all beholden as Oireachtas Members.

The Bill will support the Sláintecare reform programme, which aims to build a unified and equitable accounting health system. Most of all, though, it will be there to prevent a systematic failure. It is designed to avoid the kind of systematic failures we have seen in past HSE governance issues, namely, with CervicalCheck and budget overruns. This Bill can be part of that improvement, giving us power to ensure we can carry out corrective actions beforehand and hold those people to account. That is something we must support. Hence the reason I want to be standing here, as a Government back bench TD is this case, supporting our Minister as she leads the way in ensuring we have the best health system we can possibly have. Money has been put aside and significant budgets have been put in place, but we need to ensure our system delivers for our people in the way it should and in the way they deserve. I thank the Members for the time today. I think this Bill will pass.

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