Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the Deputy's first question, from the point of view of process, I do not get the figures directly from the HSE. While it is the Department of Health that primarily engages with the executive, I note that it has raised with me all of the matters the Deputy has raised. The Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, has raised with me and my Department the different issues raised by the Deputy.

On the future sale of State assets and hypothecation, I am generally not in favour of the principle of hypothecation because I find that once it occurs one area, there is a wish for it to happen in other areas also and in general one ends up with little flexibility. That said, if the State receives additional funding in the future to do some of the things to which the Deputy referred, the priority must be to consider how we reduce the debt that allowed the State to own the asset in the first place, particularly if it is a bank. I also wish to see us continue to rebuild capital investment in Ireland and to do this we need funding. In the context of the Government's current plan, countries of this size typically spend between 3% and 5% of national income on capital investment. Our capital spending is at a figure of approximately 3.2% to 3.3%. By the end of the life cycle of the current capital programme, it will be approximately 3.8% to 3.9% and we will be in the middle. However, the point of which I am aware and which the Deputy makes is that this is after years of the level of capital investment being reduced and that we are blessed with a young and growing country. I acknowledge that there is a need and I am trying to make progress in meeting it. As I stated, it is one reason the Government made available an additional €5 billion for capital investment purposes.