Results 561-580 of 627 for speaker:Grace Boland

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: The NTPF has clearly played a vital role in tackling waiting lists and has removed more than 370,000 public patients from waiting lists. In light of recent revelations, it is important that we take a closer look at how the funding has been applied. No fewer than three hospitals have had funding ceased due to concerns regarding the misuse of those funds. The Minister and Bernard Gloster are...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: Have any other hospitals flagged such issues?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: I found the idea of insourcing and the prolonged use of it baffling. It took me a while to get my head around the fact that we were paying people in the HSE not just overtime rates but going around the system and using HSE facilities to pay them a huge premium to do work at the weekends or through the NTPF. I would like to see the insourcing model phased out over the next couple of years....

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: Those were the private hospitals. What about the public hospitals?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: What kind of surgeries are happening in the North? What is the general nature of the surgeries happening there? Do the witnesses know? Why are patients going up to Derry?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: Is that arrangement on an annual basis? Is there a contract for a period?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: The NTPF first found out about the alleged misuse of its funding through the media. Why did CHI not raise this issue with the NTPF?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: With regard to the consultant who was deemed medically unfit to do on-call hours but was flying through patients on a Saturday, can Ms Nugent tell us if he is now working on-call hours?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: Except we were paying for a locum to cover the on-call hours-----

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: -----and then he was obviously getting additional payments for work in the Saturday clinics, which were funded by the NTPF. The taxpayer was being hit on every side, which does not seem very efficient or to be value for money.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: We were paying more to a locum to cover the on-call hours. Are there any other consultants in that position who are not doing on-call hours? Is there a figure?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: Is NTPF funding incentivising workarounds where core public duties are de-prioritised in favour of better paid insourced clinics?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: Do we think that the patients who have been waiting the longest have been de-prioritised or in-----

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: The last time Ms Nugent was before the committee, I highlighted that paragraph 8.4 of the code of practice for governance of State bodies provides that a State body "should not enter into confidentiality agreements which preclude it from disclosing details of the settlement reached in the financial statements, save in exceptional circumstances and on foot of legal advice ...". I asked Ms...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: I am running out of time. I appreciate Ms Hardiman's answer. On the NDA specifically, why was it deemed that we needed to have an NDA? If there is no issue or nothing to hide-----

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: -----both Ms Hardiman and CHI could have waived it.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: Would Ms Hardiman be happy and confident that both she and CHI can both waive the NDA so that we have full transparency in relation to any settlement?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: All three can waive it. If the NDA is not required, if there is nothing to hide, it can be waived.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: As a lawyer, it is really important that I state it is not an absolute employment right that two contracts equal a contract of indefinite duration, in particular if there is an objective justification. I assume, given the hefty amount of the legal fees, that it was not accepted and it was settled on the basis that Ms Hardiman's position was not accepted. Could we just be clear on that? Was...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023 - Children's Health Ireland
Financial Statements - National Treatment Purchase Fund (3 Jul 2025)

Grace Boland: In her evidence earlier, Ms Hardiman said that two contracts equal a contract of indefinite duration. That is not absolutely the case. It is not an absolute employment right. Because she has gone on the record, I just want to make sure that we are clarifying that. There would not have needed to be a dispute that gave rise to Ms Hardiman having €100,000 in legal fees if her position...