On 7 May last, Professor Brendan Drumm came before the committee. Professor Drumm said there would be a €50 million loss to the Health Service Executive as a result of the new consultants' private practice contract. Subsequently, the Department of Health and Children and the Minister said there would be no loss to the HSE. Late last night, we received a letter from Professor Drumm, which we propose to publish now. He has revised the figure of €50 million down and he says the hospitals now anticipate a full year loss of approximately €23 million.
The Committee of Public Accounts will return to this matter early in the autumn because we are unhappy with the manner in which millions of euro are being bandied about with little control. We are proposing to publish the letter immediately and people can draw their own conclusions from it. We will be returning to this issue in the early autumn.
Mr. John Buckley (An tArd Reachtaire Cúntas agus Ciste) called and examined.