Ms Laura Magahy:

I thank the Chairman and the members. I very much look forward to working with all of them over the next number of years to deliver on the Sláintecare objectives and on the principles outlined in the original Oireachtas report.

The robustness of the Sláintecare structure gives a sound underpinning and I suppose I am the little circle in the middle. The implementation office is in the middle and will be supported by the advice from the advisory council, which I very much welcome, reporting through to the other structures that the Minister has outlined. I believe it gives a strong link back through to the system, and down and out to the people who are delivering the services.

The remit of the programme office is to establish the programme of reform to develop a strategic and programmatic approach to implementation working with all parts of the system to ensure that everybody is following the strategy and to work collaboratively with all the stakeholders, support the work of colleagues in their reform efforts and report progress. I am keen not to duplicate any effort that is under way and, therefore, I proposing to have a small tight office, which then connects to the people who are doing the work, and to have a strong focus on implementation.

I am mindful that everyone here has a part to play in the delivery of Sláintecare. Key to its delivery is continuing political buy-in and the leadership that was shown by the cross-party Oireachtas committee. That support is very important to me while the implementation process is going on, and I look forward to working with the members of this committee. I hope to continue to have their support. I am very happy to meet the members individually if they would like more details on what I am proposing. I encourage them to get involved in the process.

Citizen engagement and empowerment is key, and I am beginning a programme to that end before the end of this year. It is essential that there is buy-in to this process. Enabling those on the front line who are delivering services is also key, and also the wider determinants. We tend to focus on the HSE and those structures, but we need to involve the wider determinants for prevention purposes, in particular, for the health and well-being of people. It is something that I am going to be focusing on. We will take a partnership approach.

I have been in office for 23 days, so I am very new to the role-----