Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

I do not accept this amendment because it would not allow for the appointment of an outside company to administer the scheme. The Government decision allows for the appointment of a company to provide an independent input into the process. The public tendering process has been implemented and the HSE decided on the appointment of a preferred service provider at a meeting of the board on 1 June 2006. In accordance with normal tendering procedures, no information can be made public on the preferred service provider until an interval of 14 days has elapsed and there has been no substantial query or objection from any of the unsuccessful bidders.

The HSE has also stated its support for the decision to engage an outside company as it is not in a position to administer the scheme because the making of repayments on this scale is not its core work and the resources required to administer the scheme are not available within the HSE, given its extensive commitment to the provision of health services without diverting staff from their normal duties.

Consideration was given by the HSE to the involvement of public sector staff to assist it in administering the scheme but the HSE has indicated that approach was not taken due to the potential industrial relations difficulties. The requirement to assign dedicated HSE resources to supervise these staff and remove them from their normal duties, the time constraints of the public procurement process and the potential for significant logistical difficulties and protracted delays, will have to be factored into the tendering process of the companies who are to take these staff on board.

The cost of employing an outside company has not been established but the funding will not come from the HSE. The cost of hiring a company will come from a special account which is being established. It is not a matter of taking X amount out of some particular service this year to pay for the hiring of the company. We realised at the start of the year that this cost would have to be met and it will come from the Exchequer. There is no magic wand, as the Senator knows. This is an unusual case. It is the biggest and most expensive repayment case the State has ever undertaken and because of the fact that the State was found guilty, so to speak, of taking money from people without the authority to do so, it was important to have an independent company involved. In an ideal situation we might not have to employ a company but in this case the right decision was made to use the resources of an outside company in assisting us with repayments.