Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not accept that. The position as outlined is that the design and focus of this budget is to get this country out of the bailout programme which it has been in for some time. It is also designed to get our country back working through a range of measures. The objective of the Minister for Health, as I have outlined on many occasions, is to reform the current health system, to bring about a single tier health service in which access to health care is based on need and not on ability to pay. The Government is committed to the ongoing sustainability of the health insurance market as part of the transition to the market-based universal health insurance scheme.

Deputy Martin mentioned balance and he took the words "the centre cannot hold" from W.B. Yeats. He did not mention the word "fairness". It is important to understand that while the health insurance companies will comment on the decision of the Government as announced in the budget by the Minister for Finance, it is the Revenue Commissioners, who make individual payments, PRSI number by PRSI number, who have the accurate figures. They say that approximately 50% of people would be affected by these measures.

There are now 259 health plans, which is a recipe for mass confusion about who has what. The tax relief given at source is the second most costly tax expenditure for the Exchequer and is estimated to reach €500 million in 2013. That cost has increased very significantly from 2011, when it cost €404 million, to €448 million last year. That is an increase of 24% in costs over the past two years.

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