Brendan Ryan (Labour)

We now know something. We know that the Government does not know how much this outside agency will be paid. I thought somewhere along the way we had got a commitment that this would never happen again and that we would not allow these sorts of dangerous, open-ended contracts to private sector advisers, supporters, consultants or experts because of what happened with PPARS in particular. We now have a situation where somebody has been chosen by the HSE to do the job. Incidentally, a week ago the Minister said that a fortnight had to elapse. As it was before a week ago that the appointment was made, the 14 days is probably up. Perhaps somebody could tell the House the name of the company.

It would be nice if the Dáil, which will ultimately vote the money, knew to whom it is voting it. I want to know how the HSE picked somebody to do this job without, apparently, the Minister responsible knowing how much it would cost. If ever there was an argument for keeping matters within the tight constraints of the public sector, what the Minister of State just said vindicates it. We know that somebody has been picked to do it and the Government does not know how much it will cost. It was quite clear that whoever is being affected by our present climate, it is not I.