Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would not agree with the Deputy on that basis. Are they sufficient to meet requirements? The question that begs is, could we spend more? The answer, of course, is "Yes". I have had this discussion with the OECD. I went to talk to the OECD about health expenditure, because it is a pressure point in every developed country. There is some sort of health expenditure focus in every developed economy. I have talked to my ministerial colleagues about this as well.

One of the things I asked the OECD health experts, who have done the analysis across every OECD country, was whether there is any model I could look at in terms of ideal health expenditure analysis. The answer was "No". There is no ideal - they all have different systems.

To answer the question as best I can, the Minister for Health presented a budget that he says will maintain the services at last year's level, meet the increased pressures and make improvements in the designated areas for which he bid for money. Would he like to spend and do more? Every single line Minister I deal with would like to spend more and do more, and I wish I had more resources to allocate to everybody.