Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have been over this ground before. We are waiting for the publication of the White Paper on universal health insurance. The Minister is nearly two years into his tenure as Minister for Health. Before the 2011 election, he spoke about the model he intended to use as a basic building block when funding universal health insurance. That was the Dutch model, as he outlined on numerous occasions. Two years down the road, we are still awaiting the publication of the White Paper. I assume it will be followed by a process of consultation. We are no nearer than we were two years ago, when the Minister was parading the Dutch system around the country, to finding out what exact type of universal health insurance scheme will be used as the foundation of the funding of our health services in the future. There should be a sense of urgency about it at this stage. We are making decisions on primary care, etc., in hospital trusts, groupings and small hospital frameworks, but the fundamental principle of how the health service is to be funded has yet to be made available to us. I ask the Minister to unveil the Dutch model or whatever other model is to be used. We want to know how the health services are to be funded.

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