‘Important issue overlooked’ in challenge

The Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was entitled to know if the public was getting value for “huge” sums of public money paid to the Rehab Group, the High Court has been told.

That “important” issue has been “overlooked” in the legal challenge by former Rehab Group chief executive Angela Kerins over PAC’s hearings concerning those payments, said counsel Paul Gallagher.

There appeared to be a suggestion there could be no inquiry into what happens to public funds once they have been paid out by the HSE, but PAC was entitled to assess if the HSE was getting value for money, he said. The basis on which the HSE paid those monies provides for monitoring and information, including information on salaries, and PAC was entitled to monitor what the HSE was doing.