Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

If I could make a general point, the national service plan provision 2019 had considerable additional funding in the amount of approximately €1 billion provided by the Government. We also had the benefit of the Supplementary Estimate agreed at the end of last year and the additional €625 million for the current year also went into the base. The Government provided handsomely for the health system this year in the national service plan, which is up by that amount compared with the previous year. There have also been increases in previous years, which was the subject of a previous discussion at this committee. It is very challenging to meet the demand for the services but the context is important to understand when considering what the Minister delivered for the 2019 national service plan.