Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the tone and content of the Minister's remarks. I did not come here to grandstand. I did not come here to exaggerate or exploit the obviously difficult situation that has arisen in respect of scoliosis and allied spinal conditions. The Minister has frankly admitted to this House that he asked the HSE and CHI how much money they needed and they said €19 million. He went and got that from the Department of public expenditure. I presume getting that funding was not so easy if my ministerial experience speaks fairly to me. It is very clear that the deal was done and the HSE and CHI got the money. The problem is that having got the €19 million, the Minister became concerned about whether those funds were being spent for the purposes for which they were requested and for which they were allocated by the Government. It turns out that the HSE's internal audit unit is carrying out a review. The final report is not to hand but the Minister is saying that from initial discussions, presumably with the internal audit review or people who are aware of their activities, that the majority of that funding, which was intended for spinal services, was allocated far more broadly across Children's Health Ireland. I will not use the word "embezzlement" but I will say that when a Minister goes to an agency and gets extra special money for a particular purpose of such gravity and urgency as this one, the very least that Minister is entitled to expect is that the money is spent on the purposes for which it was allocated. It is astonishing, and am not saying this to be critical of the Minister, that an internal audit seems to have uncovered that the majority of the money was spread elsewhere by an informal process of virement, which is the phrase used between Department heads of expenditure. Put simply, money provided for scoliosis treatment was taken and applied elsewhere. If I were the Minister - thank God I am not at the moment - I would demand accountability. I would demand accountability from the people who spread that money, used it elsewhere and did not report back to me in good faith that they were using the money I had secured with such difficulty from the Department of public expenditure and reform for this particular purpose. I would have expected them to have reported that back to me and I would demand accountability from them.

It is no surprise to me that heads should roll in the relevant area and it is no surprise to me that the confidence of the Government in the people who reallocated funds ring-fenced for that purpose has abated. There should be accountability.The Minister mentioned Mr. David Moore, who has stepped into the breach. Many consultants prefer to keep their heads down and to let others take the political flak for what happens and does not happen. It is encouraging that a leading specialist of this kind has stepped up and taken responsibility for spearheading progress towards dealing with these serious problems.

I take on board in particular something the Minister said and the Bill was drafted with this in mind. It is not simply a children's issue because children become adults and their condition does not evaporate the day they go from child status to adult status. I am glad to know there is an emphasis on continuing treatment.

This Bill is designed to ensure continued accountability. I am heartened by the Minister saying he is chairing monthly meetings of this group. When I was Minister for Justice, we had a weekly meeting of all the relevant departmental people to study progress. The only way is for the political boss to ask what happened since last month and did we or did we not achieve something. It should not be a matter of sending in the internal auditors to find out what happened to the bulk of the €17 million. It should be something that is immediately apparent, and where something is going wrong, it should be immediately apparent.

I am grateful the Minister is not opposing the Bill, but on the substance of the Bill, there is not much of a difference between him and me. The Minister is ring-fencing and sitting on top of the people providing this service by way of monthly meetings. If that continues, and it will not continue forever, there is the prospect of real progress. I, however, always fear relapse. If the Minister moves elsewhere or is rewarded with a promotion or something else in the future, or if the people decide that different people should run the country, there should be something in place to ensure scoliosis and spina bifida patients and those suffering from related conditions are a special case. They need a dedicated service and there needs to be accountability when that service is not delivered. Reading the Minister’s helpful and candid remarks to the House in response to this Bill, it seems something went very badly wrong, that money went elsewhere and there was not accountability for that, or even knowledge of it, until the internal auditors had to chase down what happened to the money and found it had been applied elsewhere. That is a bit of a scandal and justifies the Department of Health being hard and exacting in seeking accountability from the people who were responsible.

I thank all Members who have contributed to the debate and I am glad the matter is going to Committee Stage without objection.