Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The issue Deputy Halligan mentions in respect of budgets is also associated with the requirement of the Government to achieve €300 million in extra savings from within the payroll this year. There are significant finances involved in the health sector and in hospitals. The point the Deputy made is obviously one for discussion for each group when the groups are set up. Clearly, one will not have a situation where one sets up a group and deprives or denies access to funding to provide services to a hospital within the group. The groupings will make it easier for hospitals to recruit medical personnel and will give them far greater autonomy in the way they do their business in terms of the services they deem to be a priority and which they wish to promote or retain, as the case may be. In Waterford, for example, there has been a significant capital investment in the provision of a new neonatal unit. It has been completed and is currently being fitted out for use. That is all part of the discussion that will take place about the overall budget and how it is divided between the hospitals, be they major, local or county, within the groupings when they are established.

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