Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am happy that we have come back to Deputy Donnelly on this. I know what the Deputy wants and I am happy to provide it to the Joint Committee on Health, namely, the cost of delivering the individual elements of Sláintecare. The reason there is no single document outlining the costs is that several parts of Sláintecare present different options. There are also several parts of Sláintecare on which negotiations must take place. For example, I refer to the de Buitléir report on removing private practice from public hospitals. First there is the question of whether we should do it. I have made my view clear, but there a cost arises whether we do it or not. Then we must determine how to do it. There are costs there too.

Moreover, a massive body of work on eligibility is ongoing. The Sláintecare report does not say everything should be free. The exact phrase is "either free of charge or at a low cost". Costs depend on where we land on the eligibility question. There are several forks in the road which will determine the overall cost. If it is helpful to the work of the Deputy and the committee to know what each of the elements will cost, we can certainly ask the Sláintecare implementation office to provide a note. There need not be any secrecy around that. I am simply making the point that there are some figures we cannot provide with absolute certainty as they will depend on policy options and negotiations.