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

Good morning, Minister of State and her officials. I thank her for her presentation.

I recall that the Minister of State was one of the 14 members of the Committee on the Future of Healthcare that produced the Sláintecare report so she is very familiar with the kind of issues that were of concern to that committee. The eventual report that was produced contained five chapters and the first chapter was on the population health profile. We, on that committee, spent a lot of time talking about the fact that while everybody admits and agrees that we need to place a much greater focus on health promotion, and prevention, it generally is only talk and we do not put in place the kind of resources that are needed to focus on health promotion, and prevention. That is why the first chapter of the report related to this area. Unfortunately, it has not worked out that this is a prominent area in health. With all due respect to Deputy Naughton who is the Minister responsible for health promotion, when one looks at the allocation that has been made to this whole area out of a budget of €23 billion it is fairly measly to say that she has a budget of €16.3 million. I recognise that the Minister of State got an additional allocation but it does not represent the kind of importance that should attach to this area. Again, what we are seeing is a focus on the expensive elements so the treatment of people rather than the prevention of disease. That is regrettable and underlines the fact that we have such a long way to go.

The Minister of State has talked about the idea of health in all policies. Ill-health prevention must very much be a cross-cutting all-of-government issue and strategy. Can she outline how she operates with other Ministers who have a relevant role to play in this area? I mean from the point of view of, say, agriculture, sport, transport and education so a whole lot of different areas. What is the mechanism for getting people on board and sticking with the strategy?