Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising a wide range of issues. I will begin by thanking Deputy Kelly and, indeed, the members of this committee for the leadership they have shown on the HPV vaccine. It is important that we speak with one voice in respect of this matter. Adults in this country are dying needlessly of cervical cancer. Every year, approximately 300 women will contract cervical cancer and, sadly, almost 100 of them will die. We have a vaccine that can prevent that cancer and there is no room for any ambiguity or confusion on this issue. Deputy Kelly has publicly expressed an interest in extending this vaccination to boys and I acknowledge his interest in that. HIQA is currently undertaking a health technology assessment in that regard and I will not be found wanting in acting upon it. We can keep in contact about that.

The revenue budget for the children's hospital is included as part of the Children's hospital group budget. I can get the Deputy a detailed note on that under the acute heading in the document. Obviously, it is a substantial part of our capital plan. Deputy Kelleher also sought information on this. It is a multi-annual capital plan. The Government took a decision - in advance of the ten-year capital plan and the announcement of the capital envelopes for the next number of years on budget day - to prioritise this project. That is why it has commenced. There is a substantial taxpayer commitment to this in the context of multi-annual funding. I will be happy to provide the committee with a detailed note on how that will be profiled over the next number of years.

I will launch the implementation plan for the maternity strategy in the next couple of weeks . Deputy Kelly is correct that it is a superb document, but a document is only as good as its implementation. I believe it was Eisenhower who said that the plan is nothing and that planning is everything. We have a very good plan so we must put it into action. Work is already under way in that regard. We increased the budget for maternity services this year with the provision of an additional €6.8 million. That was up from an additional €3 million provided in 2016 to allow the strategy to progress. However, we will publish a detailed implementation plan in the coming weeks.

With regard to capital projects, the national children's hospital started later than had been wished so that largely accounts for the underspend in capital. However, it is expected that it will have been rectified within this year. We will spend all our capital allocation this year.

On the broader issue of primary care-----