LATE publication of reports and accounts of public bodies was deplored by Mr Des O'Malley (PD, Limerick East).

The annual report of the prison service for 1993 was still awaited, and it was now so late it would be of little more than "curiosity value", he said. The same applied to other state and semi state bodies, where reports were often two to three years late.

Deputies should be examining the reports of public bodies for 1995 at this time of the year instead of the less useful tasks they were engaged in.

The public bodies performance contrasted with AIB, which was able to publish its financial results within two months of the end of the financial year.

Speaking on the Health Amendment Bill, Mr O'Malley said public spending on the health service had increased by 65 per cent over the past year, and it had to be asked whether the service was now 65 per cent better.

Under the Bill, the Department of Health was to be withdrawn from day to day management and more responsibility given to the health boards. He hoped, however, that the Department would become an evaluator of the service to see that it was giving value for the money.

The Minister of State for Health, Mr Brian O'Shea, introducing the Bill, said its three main objectives were to improve financial accountability and expenditure control procedures in health boards to clarify the respective roles of members of health boards and their chief executive officers and to begin the process of removing the Department of Health from detailed involvement in operational matters.

The public expected a more open and accountable system of health administration. Health boards would be required to prepare and adopt an annual report on the performance of their functions during the preceding year.

"This will help Irish taxpayers to judge whether they are getting the best value for the money they contribute to the public finances," Mr O'Shea said. "Services will have to be even more responsive to people's needs, and more information will have to be made available about the actions and decisions taken on behalf of the people."

While the Minister would continue to have ultimate responsibility to the Oireachtas for all health services, Mr O'Shea said the Department would no longer be involved in the detailed management of individual services.

The health estimate this year was about £2.4 billion, an increase of about 4 per cent over 1995. Despite the level of investment, "we continue to face enormous pressures in terms of the demand for services". Increasingly complex technology, new drugs and the ageing of the population were all putting more strain on resources.

Health boards would be aware of conflicting demands when planning services. Developing service plans would present them with challenges, but would also help them to reflect local priorities.

Mrs Maire Geoghegan Quinn, Fianna Fail spokeswoman on health, said there was a real need for less bureaucratic structures. One of the most irritating things for patients entering hospital was to be asked the same list of questions by different people. It should be possible with modern technology to ask the questions once and give everyone concerned, including consultants, access to the information.

It was very hard to understand that when there was talk of cutbacks, services were always hit. The administrative structures remained intact.

Under the Bill, the health boards would inspect their own operations. It would be preferable if they were scrutinised by an independent agency, and she hoped the Minister would review that provision.

Mr Dan Wallace (FF, Cork North Central) said it could be claimed that having eight health boards introduced an unnecessary level of duplication, especially in administration. There could be more centralisation for patients with relatively rare conditions, in order to avoid having a large number of under resourced centres.

We seemed to lack even the most basic information to compare the relative performance of health boards, he said, and without such information how could the best strategies be adopted?

The debate was adjourned.