Results 44,361-44,380 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: It is anything formal, such as demotion, suspension, formal performance management that would lead potentially to losing one's job over time, fired or a cut in wages. Has any formal sanction been applied against any member of staff?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: That is all fine, but that is a system-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Okay. I ask the witness to reflect on that. If he has a system that overspends by vast amounts of money every year - it did not always do it but it does now - and nobody ever loses his or her job and nobody is ever sanctioned in any way for it, he is not sending out the right signal in terms of this having to end. This has changed. Professor Brendan Drumm wrote an open letter to The Irish...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: The question is for both witnesses.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: No, it does not. Over the last five years the overspend on health has been between €500 million and €700 million. Did the witness think at the start of each of those years or in any of those years that he would come in on budget?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I am not asking about the public and private sectors. I am asking a simple question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I understand that. However, it is not addressing my question. At the start of each year in the past five years did Mr. Mulvany think that he was going to come in on budget for that year?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I am not looking for ifs. I am asking Mr. Mulvany, as the chief financial officer, and Mr. Desmond, as one of the senior officials in the Department, if it was their view at the start of the year, in the round and given the risks and complexity, that they would come in on budget in each of the past five years.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Mr. Mulvany has not.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Mr. Mulvany could give me a "Yes" or "No" answer. It is binary. He either thought he would come in on budget or he did not.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: With the greatest respect, it is not. Any CFO handing a board or a chief executive a budget at the start of the year has a view as to whether that budget will be met. It is quite binary. A chairperson of any board will ask the CFO: "Do you believe that this is a reasonable budget and that we are going to come in on budget?". Did Mr. Mulvany believe on 1 January last that it was likely to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: With respect, I do not believe Mr. Mulvany is answering the question. On savings, there was what appears to be a made up number, the €347 million. Some €60 million can be accounted for in terms of targeted savings. There appear to be opportunities for savings across the system. For example, I spoke with a senior consultant recently who prescribes very expensive drugs and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I want to return to the overspend. As far as I can see, there is a serious governance issue with this. Do the witnesses think the disbanding of the HSE board will have contributed to these overspends?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Does Mr. Mulvany have a view as to whether the disbandment of the board may have contributed to the escalation in overspends?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: Was Mr. Mulvany there?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Overspend on the Health Budget 2018: Discussion (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: I am not asking Mr. Mulvany to comment on policy. I am putting the question to him in the context of his role as chief financial officer. Perhaps he was or was not there at the time; I do not know. I am not asking Mr. Mulvany to comment on whether it was the right call. What we are trying to understand is the escalation in overspends.

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Code (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: 122. To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to section 110 companies using the 2020 tax residency exemption to avoid paying taxes following the closing of the loophole in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44115/18]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Funding (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: 217. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 431 of 16 October 2018, the number of additional acute beds that will be provided by the additional funding of €10 million in 2019. [43999/18]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Health Services Funding (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: 218. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 431 of 16 October 2018, the hospitals in which the 600 acute beds to be phased in by the end of 2020 will be located in tabular form. [44000/18]

Written Answers — Department of Health: General Practitioner Services (24 Oct 2018)

Stephen Donnelly: 219. To ask the Minister for Health the portion of the €206 million for the selected measures for Sláintecare implementation that will support the commencement in 2019 of a multi-annual investment in general practice. [44002/18]