The chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee has raised concerns that the \u20ac7 million bill to store electric buses will continue to grow.<\/p>\n
The committee previously heard a “serious litany of failures” led to more than 130 State-funded electric double-decker buses remaining unused because there is nowhere to charge them.<\/p>\n
The National Transport Authority (NTA) revealed it is currently spending around \u20ac20,000 a week to store 98 electric buses that are still not ready to be deployed to the national fleet.<\/p>\n
The NTA’s figures show that the storage cost for one bus per week is \u20ac202, and the costs could rise by another half a million euro before all the buses are deployed.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in TD John Brady said the weekly cost of storing the buses is a “scandal”.<\/p>\n
Mr Brady said some of the buses in storage “aren’t due to come into service until next year”.<\/p>\n
“On top of the \u20ac7m that has been spent already, there’s the prospect of spending another half a million euro in additional storage costs until all of those buses come into service.<\/p>\n
“That can’t be allowed to happen.<\/p>\n
“It’s absolutely ridiculous. This should be going into frontline services,” he added.<\/p>\n
Fine Gael TD Grace Boland said the storage costs were a “disgrace”, adding that some buses have been in storage for over two years.<\/p>\n
“It is not acceptable,” she said.<\/p>\n
‘Millions of euro’ not recouped from private insurers<\/p>\n
The PAC also heard that “millions of euro” has not been recouped from private insurers by public hospitals.<\/p>\n
The committee called for a streamlined approach for resolving the issue, so it is not up to each individual hospital.<\/p>\n
It agreed to write to the HSE on the issue and to discuss it further at a future sitting of the committee.<\/p>\n
The committee’s chairman, Mr Brady, said it is “costing the public health system millions a year” and “there is an easy fix”.<\/p>\n
“There needs to be a central role by the HSE and the department,” he said.<\/p>\n
Fianna F\u00e1il TD Paul McAuliffe said: “This is millions of euro that is due to public hospitals, and we can’t run it on a case-by-case basis anymore.”<\/p>\n
He said, “a lot of the difficulties seem to be administrative”.<\/p>\n
“You’re talking about the patient not signing the form when they are there, or the consultant not signing off on it,” said Mr McAuliffe.<\/p>\n
He added he has “particular concerns” with how institutions are dealing with this matter.<\/p>\n
“I believe there is an issue here that the HSE needs a role in,” he said.<\/p>\n
Fine Gael TD James Geoghegan said: “But for a simple signature from the relevant consultant, those monies would be revenue for the hospital.”<\/p>\n
Mr Geoghegan said the “taxpayer is the biggest funder of all of these hospitals”.<\/p>\n
“It’s simply not acceptable that there’s any claims that are not sought, that are owing to the hospital at a time where we are spending billions in public spending to support our public hospitals,” added the Fine Gael TD.<\/p>\n
He said he wants the amount to be “as close to zero”.<\/p>\n
“This has to stop. This should be universally applied,” he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Joe Neville said a “nonchalant attitude to this” has allowed “millions to go unclaimed from private insurers”.<\/p>\n
“Paperwork is holding the State back from getting the money that it should be getting,” he said.<\/p>\n
“These are the same hospitals that look for more money,” added Mr Neville.<\/p>\n
“Here we have easy, quick wins but due to possibly a culture or people simply not caring – ultimately money is left behind,” he said.<\/p>\n
The committee agreed to write to the HSE on the issue.<\/p>\n
CHI staff emails around Christmas party ‘concerning’ <\/p>\n
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has called internal CHI staff emails around a \u20ac30,000 ‘donation’ to fund its staff Christmas party “concerning”.<\/p>\n