Written Answers. - Health and Mental Treatment Charges. – Dáil Éireann (18th Dáil) – Thursday, 25 Nov 1965

Mr. James Tully

asked the Minister for Health the amount collected by each health authority for a recent year, and the total for the State, in respect of (a) charges collected under section 15 of the Health Act, 1953, and (b) similar charges collected under the Mental Treatment Acts in the form of a reply of 19th July 1962.

Minister for Health (Mr. O'Malley)

The reply, which is based on information supplied by the local authorities, is as follows:

AMOUNTS collected in the year ended 31st March, 1965, in respect of charges for institutional services under section 15 of the Health Act, 1953, as amended and corresponding charges under the Mental Treatment Act, 1945, as amended.

NOTE: In interpreting the figures, it is important to bear in mind that the percentages shown are the percentages of the total amount collected which was represented by payments at the maximum permitted rate of 10/- a day. They have no relationship to the number of patients in the middle income group who were not required to meet any charge (persons in the lower income group are automatically relieved from paying any charge) or who were charged at rates less than 10/- a day. Thus if, in a particular area, 100 people in the middle income group were concerned and of these, no charge were made in respect of 20, a charge of 5/- a day were made in respect of 60 and the maximum charge were made in respect of the remaining 20, although 80% of the people concerned, all middle income group, were afforded treatment at a rate less than 10/ a day, the percentage receipt from the patients paying the maximum rate would be 40%.

Health Authority	Total amount collected under the Health Act, 1953	Charges at maximum rate of 10/- a day	Total amount collected under the Mental Treatment Act, 1945	Charges at maximum rate of 10/- a day
Amount collected	As a percentage of total collected	Amount Colleted	As percenteage of total collected
	£	£		£	£
Carlow	4,700	1,200	25.5	3,200	Nil	—
Cavan	12,100	4,300	35.5	1,000	250	25.0
Clare	8,100	2,100	25.9	2,900	300	10.3
Donegal	5,400	3,300	61.1	4,500	850	18.9
Galway	14,500	4,800	33.1	7,100	150	2.1
Kerry	8,600	2,000	23.3	5,000	150	3.0
Kildare	4,300	2,600	60.5	3,400	900	26.5
Kilkenny	6,600	4,300	65.2	3,700	850	23.0
Laoighis	5,000	4,200	84.0	2,900	650	22.4
Leitrim	3,600	10	0.3	2,300	10	0.4
Longford	4,300	1,200	27.9	3,200	1,100	34.4
Louth	9,400	4,600	48.9	4,600	560	14.1
Mayo	6,300	2,500	39.7	3,900	300	7.7
Meath	5,700	1,600	28.1	5,400	900	16.7
Monaghan	7,700	4,600	59.7	1,000	150	15.0
Offaly	6,800	5,700	83.8	2,200	200	9.1
Roscommon	6,500	1,600	24.6	3,600	400	11.1
Sligo	4,500	900	20.0	2,800	100	3.6
Tipperary (NR)	6,400	3,600	56.3	500	Nil	—
Tipperary (SR)	16,500	6,800	41.2	1,900	300	15.8
Westmeath	8,600	5,700	66.3	6,800	1,200	17.6
Wexford	8,300	4,700	56.6	2,500	300	12.0
Wicklow	4,300	2,300	53.5	3,800	1,400	36.8
Cork	40,000	12,000	30.0	13,500	2,400	17.8
Dublin	115,000	54,900	47.7	42,000	15,100	36.0
Limerick	23,300	14,800	63.5	8,700	3,000	34.5
Waterford	8,300	5,000	60.2	9,100	1,900	20.9
	354,800	161,310	45.5	151,500	33,510	22.1

The figures shown above are subject to any revision that may be found necessary on audit.

Mr. Cosgrave

I wonder could I call the attention of the Taoiseach to the lack of heating in the Dáil and the Oireachtas generally. I understand that alternative arrangements could be made but that it would require some disregard of regulations to provide it. Perhaps the Taoiseach could do something about it?

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 25 Nov 1965