Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 May 2026
1165. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health the way in which value for money is assessed in respect of funding provided to the Institute of Public Health in the absence of defined performance indicators. [32900/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe 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. The IPH has significant expertise and experience in Public Health and the potential cost to procure such such services from private companies would be multiples of the cost of the IPH. The IPH provides both Departments of Health on the island of Ireland highly responsive Public Health expertise, which is invaluable at times of crises or for emerging Public Health threats and on this basis represents real value for money.
The oversight agreement of the IPH was jointly agreed by the Departments of Health in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and the Independent Board of the IPH. Therefore the oversight of the IPH is decided jointly in accordance with the statutory requirements in both jurisdictions.
