Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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I welcome all the attendees. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, mentioned there are 400 fewer people in nursing homes under the fair deal scheme. That is a really welcome figure. It is the first time I have heard it. I hope that trend will continue.

The Minister referenced in his opening statement the demographic changes, which are very significant in terms of population size and the ageing nature of the population. The question must be asked as to why these figures were not used last year to ensure an adequate budget was provided. There is no point in raking over old coals but it is an important point, which I will get to in a moment. Interestingly, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, criticised the budget on the basis that insufficient funding was provided to health. It is very unusual for the council to do that. Normally, it is complaining about too much money being spent. IFAC was very critical of the fact that the health budget last year did not take account of the significant demographic changes. That raises questions about the ability of the Minister's Department to make the case based on the facts of the situation in regard to population. That is on the one hand. On the other hand, it also raises questions about the ability of the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to hear cases being made.

The primary responsibility of senior officials in a Department, and of the Minister, is to ensure they secure adequate funding. It was not secured last year. We have to be clear that this is why we are getting this supplementary allocation. We can talk about this as if it just concerns figures on a page. Of course, it does not just do that. The impact of the inadequate funding that was secured last year was very significant for patients and, in addition, it put additional pressure on staff because the recruitment freeze came into force as a result of that inadequate funding. There are questions in this about the ability of the Department to make a proper case for funding.