Committee of Public Accounts to examine 2020 Appropriation Account for Department of Health

The meeting in Committee Room 3 of Leinster House will be joined by the C&AG, Seamus McCarthy, and will be split into two sessions.

The morning session, from 9.30am-12.30pm, will be with officials from the Department led by the Secretary General, Robert Watt, and will examine the Appropriation Account 2020 – Vote 38 Health.

During the afternoon session, the Committee will consider the Minutes of its meeting of 9 December 2021, Accounts and Statements, Correspondence, its Work Programme and any other business.

PAC Cathaoirleach Deputy Brian Stanley said: “The Department of Health’s main role is to support the development and implementation of policy for the health services. The bulk of Health expenditure relates to grants to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for the provision of health services. In 2020, grant funding paid to the HSE amounted to over €20 billion, an increase of €3 billion on the previous year.

“The significant spending increase last year was to cope with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in late-February 2020. The Committee wishes to examine this spending and procurement to see what can be learned to ensure value for money for the taxpayer should such emergencies arise in the future.

“Other areas that Members would like to examine include spending on the implementation of Slaintecare, the National Treatment Purchase Fund, long-term residential care, payments to the State Claims Agency, and the construction of the new National Children’s Hospital. We would also like to hear an update on the cyber-attack on the HSE earlier this year and the recent report into that attack by PWC. The Committee looks forward to discussing these issues and related matters with Mr Watt and his colleagues.”

The meeting in Committee Room 3 can be viewed live on Oireachtas TV.

PAC is a standing committee of Dáil Éireann which focuses on ensuring public services are run efficiently and achieve value for money.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.