Vol. 546 No. 3
218 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if the Department of Finance was strongly critical of him for welcoming the recommendations of the Medical Manpower Forum report without official Government approval, as reported in a publication (details supplied). [31667/01]
I presume the Deputy is referring to an exchange of correspondence between officials of the Department of Finance and my Department last January, which my Department recently released under the Freedom of Information Act, 1997.
In the course of that correspondence, the Department of Finance, while noting that my Department had briefed it fully in June 2000 regarding the issues involved, expressed some concerns, on foot of press reports on the content of the Report of the Medical Manpower Forum – the finalisation of which I welcomed on 28 November, 2000 – that the impression may have been given of a commitment to implement the report in advance of Government consideration of the issues involved.
My Department's response to the Department of Finance clarified that the Report of the Forum on Medical Manpower would have to be submitted to Government before any decision could be made on its possible implementation; that the approval of Government would be sought for the publication of the report; and that it was not the Department's intention to hold discussions with any of the key stakeholders until the Government had made its decision.
The recommendations contained in the Report of the Forum on Medical Manpower involve very significant resource implications. The clarification sought by the Department of Finance is not unreasonable in that context.
