Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise an issue of concern in regard to questions that are put down in the health committee when I am looking for answers in the public interest. In September I put down a question in regard to section 38 and 39 organisations which are receiving funding from the HSE and the Department of Health. Over €3.4 billion of the health budget is paid out to 2,680 organisations and I put down a very specific question looking for specific answers. I am disturbed to find that I received a generic answer to the questions I put down to the health committee in mid-October. I find that a report, which I understand was completed as far back as March of this year, was not made available to me in that answer yet it is now being made available to every member of the media who just writes a letter looking for it. I am appalled that the health committee was dealt with in this manner by the HSE and the Department, and I am looking for answers as to why this report was not made available to the health committee in mid-October.

We have an opportunity to put down questions looking for answers and transparency once every three months. At least the Department and the HSE should have had the decency to advise us of the existence of the report and that it would be made available at some stage in the future. Not one sentence in that reply mentioned the existence of the report. I am appalled it is now being released to the media. As a member of the health committee and a spokesman on health for Fine Gael in this House, I still have not got a copy of that report. I am asking that the Leader would raise this with the Minister and the Department so that any Member of this House who puts down a specific question in the health committee gets the answers.