Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

Obviously, the HSE like every other organisation has to live within the resources allocated to it. If they do not do that, they cannot have priorities or make plans and it would be highly disruptive. For the past couple of years we are aware that the new development moneys, including in palliative care, have been redirected to deal with day-to-day issues. For example, last year I understand an extra €40 million was spent on drugs for cancer patients that had not been envisaged at the start of the year. Clearly, the executive's priority has to be to live within the resources allocated to it. The Deputy's colleague spoke this morning, as he has done on many occasions, about the fact that we are spending too much. In the past three years we have put in three additional beds in Blackrock, four in Galway, ten in Milford, two in Waterford and six in the Curragh. This year an additional €3 million was allocated to palliative care and I have asked the HSE to ensure that money is spent on service delivery, in particular, in those areas where there are huge regional disparities in the provision of palliative care inpatient beds. One such area is the midlands.

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