Former ministers may be called before Travers hearings
Several former health ministers are reportedly set to be called before an Oireachtas investigation into the scandal surrounding illegal nursing home fees.
Reports this morning said the Oireachtas health committee would decide next Thursday what ministers and departmental officials to call as part of a series of planned hearings.
The committee is reportedly set to hold a series of public hearings into the recently published Travers Report over the next three months.
The Travers Report criticised widespread administrative failures in the Department of Health, with civil servants accused of failing to ensure that ministers were aware of the illegality of levying nursing home fees on medical card holders, a practice that continued from 1976 until late last year.
However, it did not blame any ministers for the scandal.
This morning's reports said Fine Gael wanted up to 10 former health ministers to be called to explain their actions, including current Finance Minister Brian Cowen and former Taoiseach Charles Haughey.
The reports also said the health committee was expected to seek legal advice about documents that the Department of Health has refused to release on the advice of the Attorney General.
