Mr. Jim Breslin:

Deputy Kelleher asked a direct question and given the strictures that have been removed since last week, it is only fair that I respond. His question was on universal health insurance, UHI, and the extent to which the Department is working actively on it. We have staff assigned to that area and they continue to work on it. The commitments the Minister published two weeks ago for 2015 include a number of deliverables in that area, which we are working to try to achieve. A major one is to complete the initial costing exercise on UHI and to revert to the Government with a roadmap for the next steps. As part of that, we have available to us the consultation exercise that was undertaken by the Department on UHI. We are working at present with the ESRI on an initial costing analysis. When we get those two things in place, we will work on a roadmap that will look at a number of steps which have been taken, and a number of further steps that would need to be taken. The Minister will go back to the Government on the matter.

Other relevant aspects of the priorities to that policy are the Minister’s package of measures to increase the numbers with private health insurance as a step along the road and also, as the committee has debated, the universal access to GP services, the first steps which relate to children aged under six and people aged over 70. In short, we continue to work on the policy.