Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Department and the HSE wrote to all the section 39 organisations on 10 December last to advise them that under the service level agreements for 2014, the salaries of management and CEOs must be disclosed in full before funding is paid. It is a little late, but it is welcome. We should have a debate because there could be other cases in which we are paying a substantial sum of money to an organisation in the absence of transparency. A debate would be helpful because it would allow us to tease out those issues. We are talking about a great deal of money. Over 25% of the health budget is being allocated to organisations which are not under the direct control of the Department or the HSE. We are accountable to taxpayers. It is important that these organisations are also accountable to the taxpayers who are funding them.