Michael Harty (Clare, Independent)
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I thank Dr. Johnston. I will ask the same two questions that I put to the Minister when he appeared before us this morning. First, we had a long discussion in the Sláintecare committee about where the Sláintecare implementation office should sit and it has been placed in the Department of Health. We were strongly of the view that it should be placed in the Department of the Taoiseach. Will the witnesses comment on that? Where does that leave us regarding the political buy-in?

There is no reference to a national health fund in the Sláintecare implementation strategy. A major component of the Sláintecare plan was that there would be a national health fund which would be comprised of earmarked taxes and specific funds. In his reply, the Minister said that the funding for Sláintecare would come through the normal budgetary process. We were quite strong that this would not be sufficient funding to implement Sláintecare. Will the witnesses comment on that?