Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 20 May 2021

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Public Service Performance Report 2020: Discussion

Mr. Ronnie Downes:

That is a question for Deputy Ryan to explore with colleagues in the Department of Health. There has been a lot of focus in the Department of Health and in the HSE on addressing some capacity gaps and improving the number of critical care beds in hospitals. That has been upgraded. There are some learnings from the pandemic experience about the readiness and resilience of the health system. The Sláintecare implementation plan was introduced last week, and I am sure the Deputy is aware of the very high level of ambition for what it going to be rolled out. That will have resourcing implications as well that we will need to consider carefully.