Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Health is obviously much in demand these days but I would like to hear from him about a specific two-day conference being organised by the Health Service Executive in the near future in Dublin's Convention Centre.The event to which I refer is the Healthcare Leadership Masterclass 2017. It was recently reported that speakers at this event will receive a total of up €11,500 as they address senior managers in the health and business sector. Given that this symposium is being organised by a key public body, adequate transparency around this event is necessary. It would be of public interest to know whether the conference, which is funded through the sales of tickets costing €695 for commercial organisations and through sponsorship, pays for itself. It is important to have clarity about what procurement processes and protocols are in place to avoid any potential or perceived potential conflicts of interest between sponsoring companies and the HSE. This is why I ask that the Minister for Health come before the House, provides a breakdown of the expenses involved and comments on whether there is any potential revenue gain associated with the event. I gather that each speaker is to be a subject expert. We are told that their experiences will be of real benefit to the approximately 800 delegates who will be in attendance.

Could the Minister confirm what each of the six non-HSE speakers at the event, which I gather is in its fourth year, will receive? I am told that presenters at this conference are predominantly based in either Ireland or Great Britain and that, therefore, bills for flights, accommodation and transport should not be significant. However, it was reported in The Irish Timesthat a Harvard professor was to be paid about €50,000 for his services at a similar event in 2014. That is why I would like the Minister to disclose the various costs and potential revenues involved and how much the event management firm that won the tender to organise the conference was paid. I contrast this with the fact that last Wednesday week, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said that 565 people were on trolleys in emergency departments or wards in hospitals nationwide waiting for a bed. We know that cancer patients and other patients are having their surgical appointments cancelled in significant numbers because of serious staff and resource deficiencies in State hospitals.