Department spent €102m on health reports in 10 years

THE Department of Health has spent a massive €102 million on a series of published and unpublished reform reports over the past decade.

Figures detailed by the department have confirmed that over the past 10 years Health Minister Mary Harney and her predecessors, Micheál Martin and Brian Cowen, paid out the massive taxpayer-funded sum for 225 documents, some of which are yet to be implemented.

The highest expenses involved the €47m cost of the report into the accidental infection of haemophiliac patients with HIV and Hep C (1999); €553,493 for Strategic Options for the VHI board (2001); and the €1.8m spent on the SLAN lifestyle and attitudinal survey (2006).