Results 4,901-4,920 of 10,862 for speaker:Matt Carthy

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: I welcome our guests. The issue of the Owenacurra centre in Midleton has come before this committee on several occasions. Who is best placed to answer questions on that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: I am trying to get behind the HSE's rationale. As I understand it, in June 2021, residents received a communication from HSE management indicating that the centre was to be closed on the basis of a Mental Health Commission recommendation or standard. Am I correct in saying that was the rationale for the decision?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: The HSE's procedure was to seek alternative accommodation. Does it strike the HSE as strange that some of those alternative accommodations - I refer to the ten residents who have already been moved - included placements in shared rooms and on long-stay wards? I am told that alternative accommodations included St. Stephen's hospital in Glanmire and St. Finbarr's hospital in Cork. The Mental...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: That would be absolutely laudable, were it a situation in which the residents who had been moved were indicating that they were satisfied with the fact that they had been moved. However, that is not the evidence that has been provided to this committee.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: This is what I do not understand. Essentially, the rationale for taking very vulnerable people out of a residential setting was a deficiency that had been identified by the Mental Health Commission but they have now been moved to other locations which, in some instances, have had the exact same adjudications from the commission and, in all likelihood, they will have to be moved again. Is...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: I will cut across Mr. Fitzgerald, if I may. Does he accept there are other residential centres that, similarly, are not fit for purpose in terms of the standards to which we all aspire?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: Is Mr. Fitzgerald answering "Yes" to the question I asked? I apologise for cutting across him. Is that a "Yes"?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: It is transformed when they have moved to better facilities-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: -----or when existing facilities are upgraded.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: As Mr. Reid will be aware, I am a step removed from this. I have spoken to elected representatives in the area who do not have a vested interest in the matter other than wanting what is in the best interests of their constituents. I am asking these questions because this issue consistently comes back before the committee. The question that has not been answered is why this centre was...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: I have gone through all the responses and the question I am asking that has not been answered is why this centre was prioritised. I will not go through the list provided to me of other centres in that CHO region that, by any objective analysis, are more in need of updating than Owenacurra is. There is no reference to any planned works in that regard. Taking at face value that works were...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: Does Mr. Reid accept that other centres have the same assessment and status?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: Why was this centre chosen at that time? Why not the others? What criteria were used to determine that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: All those things equally apply to other centres, however.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health
Health Service Executive - Financial Statements 2021 (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: I am not saying they apply to all centres. They apply to some other centres.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: As a point of principle, we should lay down a marker to the effect that if we bring people before this committee we expect to hear the full facts in response to any question that is put and if it transpires that those facts are in dispute then we will seek clarification. I agree with your approach, Chairman.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: I find it bizarre that we have received a letter from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that says that it has not received the formal business case for the proposal from the Department of Health in respect of the national maternity hospital considering the ongoing political debate and our constant refrain about learning lessons from the past. Apparently, this is just given as a...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: It is comprehensive correspondence. I flagged it simply because this committee has an obligation to be aware of the type of figures. We discussed this previously in respect of the oversight of the moneys involved because we are talking about Irish contributions to the EU budget moving towards the €3 billion mark. That is a significant proportion of Exchequer funding. There is no...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: In fairness, the report details a bit of that. It might be useful if we had a meeting with the European Court of Auditors and perhaps we could have a joint hearing with the corresponding committee at European Parliament level. It will be an increasing part of our work in the coming years so we should try to get a handle on it as early as possible.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Sep 2022)

Matt Carthy: Sure.