Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Fundamental to the dysfunction that exists in the health service at the moment is the fact that there is a block of funding, the lion’s share of which goes to the hospitals. This is not necessarily based on anything and it can be for traditional reasons, wherever a Minister happens to be or whatever. The lesser share, then, goes to community.

Fundamental to this plan, if it is going to work, is that there must be a single budget. That budget must go to what will achieve the best health outcomes and that will entail moving existing budgets. I would hope it would be a matter of the hospitals and the community continuing to be funded separately. There will need to be a single budget and those decisions on the best places to spend that budget must be taken centrally, rather than on political grounds or because the hospital group has had so much in the past and it wants to continue with that. Is that principle accepted in both the Department and in the HSE?