David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

People can read into that answer what they wish. The Minister made a big announcement in regard to these beds and it is quite obvious, certainly in the budget allocation, that they are not funded. There may well be more funding coming, as Mr. Gloster said, but at the moment, there is no funding for those beds. I would be amazed if any of those beds were delivered in 2024, which would be a disappointment.

I want to come back to something Mr. Watt said in his opening statement, and I tend to agree with him on this. It is that we need to focus not just on what is happening in acute hospitals, but also in primary and community care. That was the whole bedrock of Sláintecare in many ways: the right care in the right place at the right time. If we had more alternative care pathways in community and primary care, we would take considerable pressure off our acute hospitals. I agree with the philosophical point that Mr. Watt was making in his opening statement. I agree also that significant additional funding was made available in previous budgets to put in place that whole enhanced community care layer of staff which is necessary. However, we have to look forward as well. If we want to deliver on the commitment Mr. Watt was talking about in terms of giving people alternative care options, we have to build on that capacity all of the time. In budget 2024, how much additional core expenditure was made available for primary and community care in terms of new programmes?