Mr. Dean Sullivan:

To build on what Ms Magahy said, Sláintecare is actually quite specific on issues such as expectations around waiting times in emergency departments in hospitals of four hours and waiting times for scheduled care services, as we discussed earlier. It states very clearly that people should wait no longer than ten weeks for an outpatient appointment, 12 weeks for treatment and ten days for diagnostics. It is also very clear about the expectation of and need for universal access to healthcare that is free at the point of use. It is also very clear about the direction of travel in terms of delivering care as close as possible to the patient's home and about trying to support people to live healthy lives at home as independently as possible. There is nothing in there that any of us here or among the population at large could argue with but the challenge is giving life to that. We have made reasonable progress over the first couple of years, as Ms Magahy has described, and I hope that progress really accelerates in the next 12 to 18 months. In that context, the budget is a very welcome step in the right direction in terms of supporting the pace of change. We are in reasonable shape going forward and Sláintecare is quite clear about the things that it needs to be clear about.