Results 12,481-12,500 of 26,630 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: That is great, but I ask Mr. Connaghan to bear with me for a second. What is extraordinary about his response is that while every effort is being made by the HSE to get replacements, which is fine, and I have a briefing note in which all that is covered, it should not have come to this. We had three psychiatrists providing a service and they walked out, and what we are hearing is that more...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: I will come back to this in my second round because I want to be fair to the other-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: I will ask one last question and then come back in the second round on some of those issues. I accept Mr. Connaghan is new to the post. I must say he is very forthright and very upfront in answering questions, and I commend him on that. I gave him prior notice that I would raise this issue because it is very important and will have wider national implications. I spoke to one of those...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: I will stay to enable us to get through this.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: Deputy Kelly will have to be present for the vote.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: With regard to hospital consultants, some of the issues were raised by Teachta MacSharry. There was a court challenge by consultants relating to pay. Will the witnesses remind us what that was about, what the outcome was and what the liability is for the State as a consequence of that action by consultants? Will Mr. Breslin or Mr. Connaghan take that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: How many consultants took cases?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: What was the outcome of that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: How much would that cost?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: How much would that cost?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: Mr. Breslin will admit that was an extraordinary amount of money, both in the retrospective payments and the year-on-year costs. It is a huge amount of money for the cohort of people involved.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: Reading between the lines, the settlement was made reluctantly.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: I understand that. The State robustly defended its position right up to the settlement. Mr. Breslin indicated there were ten consultants involved.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: Private investigators were hired to examine the movements of some consultants in the public service. Who would they have been?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: Did the three cases in which private investigators were used involve three of the ten people who brought lead cases?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: In terms of robustly defending its position and reluctantly agreeing to a settlement, the State seems to have gone to extraordinary lengths. Unusually in this instance, it hired private investigators to examine the movements of these particular consultants. In Mr. Breslin's view, was that justified?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: How much did the private investigators cost?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: Were the private investigators given terms of reference as to when they would track the movements of the individuals in question? Did privacy issues arise in relation to the rights of these individuals? How was their privacy protected when the private investigators were hired?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: I understand that. I ask Mr. Breslin to bear with me. There was obviously a contract of some description with individual private investigators or a firm to track the movements of three individuals. I am making a judgment on the rights and wrongs of that but trying to establish what the process was. In the first instance, which arm of the State was responsible for employing the private...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Financial Statements of the HSE
2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Department of Health (5 Jul 2018)

David Cullinane: Mr. Breslin will imagine that the consultants involved will have felt uncomfortable and will have questions. I have not been lobbied by any of them, nor have I met any of them. I have seen the media coverage of the matter and I am aware of the criticism made for using private investigators and the defence made by the State. I imagine if I was one of the individuals involved, I would want...