Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will have to beg indulgence and forgiveness from colleagues as I was not able to take everything down as quickly as I was asked questions. My officials are keeping an eye on this and will come back to Deputies with written replies where I am unable to give a verbal reply.

In response to Deputy Barry's initial question, I am genuinely sorry to hear about his constituent's experience. The policy we have set out in Sláintecare is that nobody should have to wait more than ten to 12 weeks to see a specialist if they need to see one, or more than ten to 12 weeks to have an operation if they need it. We are unlike the vast majority of countries in the world in that we are getting closer to achieving that rather than moving further away. Waiting times in Ireland are considerably lower than they are in Britain, for example, or in Northern Ireland or many other places. However, we are a long way off where we need to be, with about 400,000 people still waiting more than ten to 12 weeks. I do not know about the individual circumstances of the case the Deputy raised but it is possible that the letter was an error. To get an appointment in eight years time would not be typical or anything near the normal waiting time for cataract treatment.

On what we are doing, we are expanding the additional public services, including in Cork. The Deputy will be familiar with the developments that are happening there with the new theatre. The National Treatment Purchase Fund is also an option. We regularly pay for people to go privately and have their operations done. Going cross-border is another option; people can travel to another EU country and the Government will reimburse them fully, not for their travel costs but for the cost of their consultations and operation. There is also an arrangement with Northern Ireland so there are many different options. We understand that people would like to have their operations done as close to home as possible.

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan mentioned the issue of recruitment, which is an enormous challenge and is discussed regularly at meetings of the Cabinet committee on health. There is a huge degree of turnover of staff in the health service. It is also an international labour market, with people coming and going from all parts of the world all of the time. However, we are succeeding, with 20,000 more people working in our health service than was the case three years ago, including 6,500 extra nurses and midwives. We have among the highest number of nurses and midwives per capitain the world. We have recruited 2,000 additional doctors and dentists, and hundreds more consultants, so we are going in the right direction. That is not in any way to deny the gaps that exist in many services and all over the country. It is a real challenge but one in which we are showing some results. We are seeing with the new consultant contract that there is increased interest from overseas. People are not just coming home but fully trained doctors from other countries are also seeing how attractive the consultant contract is in Ireland under the new Sláintecare contract.

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan raised the issue of the possible underspend on new drugs. I followed up on that at the time and I did not get a reply either. I thank the Deputy for reminding me and I will check up on it. I would be surprised if it is the case but if it is, I want to know.

We are always being told that we do not allocate enough for new medicines, so an underspend would be quite a surprise.

Deputy Boyd Barrett mentioned the cost of disability report. I am familiar with the report. I think it may have been commissioned by the Government, perhaps by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys. Of course there is a cost associated with disability, but it very much depends on the individual and the disability that they have, and therefore it is very hard to calculate. It could range from a small figure to a very high figure, depending on the person's individual circumstances. The disability allowance will be increased in the budget, but I cannot say at this stage by how much it will be increased. Of course, there are other things that we can do as well around service provision. There was a one-off payment last year as well.

On the payment of the Covid bonus to staff, we have always said that the Covid bonus was not for everyone. For example, gardaí did not get it. It was not for all front-line workers. The basic principle was that first, you should be a Government employee, and second, you should have been exposed to Covid patients on a daily basis. Essentially, that would involve people wearing gowns and gloves who were exposed to Covid patients on a daily basis before the vaccine was developed.

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