Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

This Government also introduced the National Treatment Purchase Fund which has been an outstanding success. People may criticise one area of the health service or another but the record shows that Ireland as a society has gone from a situation which in 1997, when Fine Gael, Labour and the Democratic Left were in office, spent 15% below the OECD average on health, to the point where we now spend considerably above it. This shows the extent of the commitment of this Government——

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