Chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Sinn Féin TD John Brady, has called on the government to deliver meaningful reform of the State’s Health Service, ahead of the PAC’s scrutiny of spending on insourcing services in hospitals across the state.
Speaking in advance of Thursday’s committee meeting with representatives from Tallaght University Hospital, the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, St. Vincent’s University Hospital, the HSE, and the National Treatment Purchase Fund to examine value for money concerns and governance issues surrounding insourcing arrangements, Teachta Brady said:
“The scale of spending on insourcing is deeply concerning, with €70 million spent between early 2023 and March 2025.
“What was initially presented as a short-term measure to tackle long waiting lists, grew into something far bigger.
“Insourcing sees external companies delivering services in public hospitals, often using public facilities and, in some cases, re-engaging HSE staff at premium rates through private arrangements.
“This raises serious questions around value for money, oversight, and conflicts of interest.
“The continued reliance on arrangements like insourcing is as a result of successive government’s failure to build sufficient capacity within the public system and to deliver the reforms that are long overdue.
“Sláintecare set out a clear vision for a universal, single-tier health service, but nearly a decade on, progress has been far too slow.
“This PAC meeting is an opportunity to scrutinise not only how public money is being spent, but to also shine a light on why the system has had to rely on inefficient stopgap measures, instead of delivering the structural reform patients deserve.”
ENDS