Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 April 2026
292. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the formal process used by Department officials to review quarterly reports submitted by non-statutory bodies; whether this process includes documented evaluation criteria, scoring, or decision frameworks; and if she will provide details of how compliance is assessed beyond financial reporting. [27829/26]
View answerThe All Island Institute of Public Health (IPH) is the only non-statutory body that receives funding directly by the Department. This is due to its specific nature as an all island body that was set up prior to the signing of the Good Friday / Belfast Agreement in 1998. The IPH provides support on public health policy to the respective Departments of Health and Chief Medical Officers in both jurisdictions.
The IPH regularly produces high quality input into the Department of Health, and has done so since its inception in 1998. The outputs of the IPH includes the provision of reports, events, policy briefs, consultation responses, journal articles and conferences. The work plan of the IPH is varied and responsive to both long term and emerging public health needs and challenges on the island of Ireland. Therefore the application of documented evaluation criteria, scoring, or a decision framework is often inappropriate. In relation to ensuring the compliance of the IPH, regular meetings are held either jointly with Northern Ireland colleagues or bilaterally to assess progress on specific pieces of work or on the overall workplan.
