Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Budget 2021 includes provision for that and it actually states that our capacity has gone up and we are continuing it with the rest of the budget. This is one of the reasons that the budget was so high. I felt it quite right to point at the Government budgets but as I said at the start, if the Deputy has not already done this I suggest she look at the ESRI report on comparative healthcare spending, led by Professor Maev-Ann Wren led, which is so important. The narrative in Ireland for years has been that we spend more than anybody else and we do not get the outcomes. The ESRI’s report is really complicated stuff when one compares country to country but it has done it. It turns out that we are ninth or tenth of the EU 15. I say as Minister for Health, let us proudly invest more in healthcare. IFAC may not agree but it has a different job.