Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is the famous saying that your health is your wealth. The Minister said the Department would be publishing the Health in Ireland: Key Trends report next week, which will provide an overview of health status and health services over the past ten years. He said it showed a real improvement in mortality and increased life expectancy. Better health care has increased life expectancy by four years since 2006, ahead of the EU average. Cancer rates are down 11% and diseases are down 35%. One cannot put a price on this and I congratulate the Minister on it.

He stated that an additional 20,000 people had been added to the number of those over 65. How much will this cost in next year’s budget?