Results 4,061-4,080 of 26,844 for speaker:David Cullinane

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: I will cover four issues as quickly as I can. First, with regard to the updated briefing document the Minister gave me, I wish to return to the issue of the access to care fund. The earlier presentation and budget 2021 featured a subhead of €697 million - €497 million for Covid measures and €200 million for the access to care fund. In the briefing document, the access...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: I am just asking if that is a correct reading.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: Yes.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: It says here it is €130 million. Is that correct?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: I will read out what we have been given. It frustrates me that when we ask for an updated note I have to read it out. It states that the Department understands that the €7 million reported by the HSE against access to care with the HSE Covid expenditure, as detailed, is not the full spend against the €200 million allocation made under this subhead to the HSE. The total...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: I am asking about the access to care fund-----

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: -----so we are very clear about what I am asking.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: Yes.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: That is fine. It is what I asked for at the start. The figure is €127 million, not €230 million, as the Minister stated. The document goes on to say that the balance of the spend currently embedded will be currently embedded within the core acute deficit. What is the core acute deficit?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: What is the core deficit?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: So we are now running a deficit to pay for the access to care fund as opposed to the money being spent in the way it was meant to be spent. Is that right?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: I imagine that it has to balance out somewhere. However, my point is there is a lot of reprofiling of money here for this one particular fund alone. It suggests, as the Minister has acknowledged, that this centralised financial management system is more important than ever. It is really difficult to track. I will not even have time to go into PPE, which is even worse. It is mind-boggling...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: The €497 million.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: I get all that; that is what we said last week. I am saying that different figures have been presented today.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: It needs to be very quick because I only have four minutes left and I have two issues I need to get to.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Service 2022
Vote 38 - Health (Supplementary) (Resumed) (6 Dec 2022)

David Cullinane: That is exactly my point. We should have had that information last week. We asked for that last week. In fact, Deputy Shortall spent a long time trying to establish what the estimated figure for PPE was. She was told it was €118 million; as it turns out it was €151 million. I agree with the Minister, but it is now that we are getting the information which vindicates us...