Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have concerns about innovating as otherwise the Minister is not a very good negotiator. That is what this is pointing to. Mr. Moloney, in his opening statement, noted, and the Minister often says this too, that "Ireland ranked first in the EU for expenditure on healthcare as a proportion of our national income and as a proportion of total government spending despite our relatively young population." This is based on OECD data from 2020. Again, the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, stated in the Dáil after the budget that of the 15 western European countries, "Ireland comes 11th in terms of the amount we invest in healthcare per person". That is the defence that is used all of the time in terms of our investment. The Minister went on to say:

Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, France, Sweden, Norway Switzerland, Luxembourg and Denmark spend more than we do per person for healthcare, when we adjust for local prices. Of the best comparator countries we have, we are in the bottom third.

In terms of the comparisons we make and the figures the Department gives us, it is important to recognise that if we are to approach this in a neutral manner, even the OECD cautions about the comparability of the figures. One of the reasons it warns about the comparability of national figures on health expenditure is that it relies on countries to produce their own data. Is it still the case that in Ireland payments to family carers are included in the healthcare expenditure we report to the OECD? Is it the norm among OECD countries to include such payments in their expenditure?