A PARTNERSHIP forum involving trade unions and management in the health service received about €20 million in State funding over recent years, according to a new Department of Health report.
The Health Service National Partnership Forum was established in 1999 under a social partnership agreement.
It aims to promote a partnership approach to change and problem-solving in the health services.
Details of the funding provided will be set out in a new report commissioned by the Department of Health secretary general Michael Scanlan to establish, among other matters, how much money had been sanctioned in relation to management/union partnership activities other than under the controversial skill training project, which is already the subject of several investigations.
The Department of Health has said that this review is not yet complete. It has provided details of some of the findings, however, to Fine Gael TD PJ Sheehan, in reply to a parliamentary question tabled in July.
This stated that it provided €4 million to the Health Service National Partnership Forum in 2004. The Department of Health said it also provided €100,000 in funding to the Irish Nurses Organisation (as it was then known) in 2004 for the maintenance of a website.
The general secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation Liam Doran said that the money had gone towards a website, entitled Nurse2Nurse, which aimed to assist members with their continuing professional development.
The Department of Health also said it had allocated €50,000 to the Psychiatric Nurses Association in the same year towards the cost of establishing a research department.
The Department of Health report stated as well that it had had allocated €69,000 in 2007, €55,000 in 2008 and €63,000 in 2009 to the North-South Health Services Partnership for cross-Border activities.
The Health Service National Partnership Forum has more than 20 staff.
Forum members include senior Department of Health, HSE and hospital managers as well as senior trade union officials.
Last week, the State's spending watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General, found that the Health Service National Partnership Forum had paid €876,000 between 2004 and 2008 into a mysterious bank account linked to the trade union Siptu under a scheme known as the Action Plan for People Management.
Siptu has said that the account - known as the Siptu National Health and Local Authority Levy fund - was not one of its authorised accounts.