Mr. Paul Reid:

I thank the Deputy. I will work through the questions and call on Dr. Henry especially on the flu vaccine. I thank the Deputy and her colleagues for their feedback on the health service and our workers.

On the acceleration of Sláintecare overall, I have just a couple of quick comments. As tough as Covid has been for the health system, I believe it has given a greater level of confidence to the health system, particularly around the area of integration. It has given a whole new level of care pathways so that we do actually invest in the community. Deputy Cullinane was talking earlier on about the capacity in the hospital system, and it is an issue, but we know a major part of that solution is in the community service. I know Deputy Shortall has been key in leading that whole report.

Specifically on the Deputy's point around regional management and prioritisation, that is ultimately a priority in terms of Government policy. The two elements of Sláintecare were regions and, separately, the significant focus on services. We certainly would be saying for now to continue the significant focus on services, but regions are still part of the Government policy, which we are implementing.

On the provision of GP services generally, that is a concern for me and for the health system. Areas of social deprivation suffer most in that context. In some hospitals where we see many people attending accident and emergency departments, that is largely down to areas where there is social deprivation and that do not have access to GPs and or that pathway. That is a concern for us. Regarding what would make the situation better, certainly the pipeline of GPs coming through the system has improved. Dr. Henry might also talk about that element. We regularly talk to representatives of the ICGP about how we, as a State, can improve the pipeline of GPs coming through training. It has been the experience, however, even during Covid-19, that areas of social deprivation suffer more in the context of health systems. That is well proven.

Turning briefly to the budget, what we have-----