Committees argue over charities and health top-up crisis

A private row between two of the Dáil’s most high-profile committees over who has the right to examine the health and charities top-ups crisis has spilled over into the public arena.

The tug-of-war over the investigation — and, it has been claimed, the related media attention — emerged after a planned health committee meeting on the issue was cancelled earlier this week when the public accounts committee intervened.

On Tuesday evening, health committee chair and Fine Gael TD Jerry Buttimer told his cross-party group that a scheduled top-ups meeting with HSE officials due to take place the following day had been “postponed”.