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97.7 MILLION HEALTH UNDER SPEND A FAILURE OF ADMINISTRATION SAYS PwDI

Tuesday 19th June 2007. .

Responding to the news that the HSE last year failed to spend €97.7 million of its allocated budget for new developments and facilities, PwDI, the national body representing all people with disabilities, said it “marks a serious failure of administration for which someone should be held accountable.”

PwDI Chief Executive Michael Ringrose said:
“To compound this failure the comments attributed to the Chairman of the board of the HSE are worrying in that they lack any sense of identification as to where responsibility lies.

“The sense of acceptance of the slow pace of delivery within the public service is simply not acceptable,” said Mr Ringrose.

“Nor is the statement saying that under spending was not deliberate. What are we to take from this? he asked. That it’s okay to under spend, provided it was not a deliberate act? This is an outrageous proposition,” he said.

Mr Ringrose said this development does not augur well for the future of the health services.

“In the area of disability, for example, there has been much new legislation with the Disability Act and the Government Department plans, the so-called Sectoral Plans.

“People were beginning to hope that these would result in real changes on the ground.

“However, for real change to happen policy and legislation must filter down through a workable and efficient administration.

“This very serious level of under spend does not give any confidence that it will happen.

“The Sectoral Plans suffer greatly from a lack of priority setting. When every aspect of a plan is given equal value that is a recipe for no change.

“What we are seeing here is maintenance of the status quo,” said Mr Ringrose.

Ends

Further information: National Office PwDI Tel. 01-8721744

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