'Unacceptable' failure to examine value of €1bn Fair Deal scheme

The report describes the Department of Health’s failure to conclude a value-for-money review of the Fair Deal, which was begun in March 2018, as being 'unacceptable', and will call on the department to publish its report 'without delay'.

The HSE has been told it must unite its finances and procurement management under one system as a priority in order to rectify a “serious operational deficiency”.

A report into the administration of the HSE’s nursing home support scheme, the “Fair Deal”, by the Public Accounts Committee, has delivered five recommendations for the improvement of the scheme, which cost the State more than €1bn in 2019.