Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No, actually. As I said to the Deputy before, I devote one Monday in the month to Cabinet sub-committee meetings and, occasionally, if people are not available or whatever, we have them on a different day. I find it is better that way. One has timelines and issues that need to be dealt with.

No one doubts the scale of the challenge facing any Minister for Health. I recall the Deputy declaring the abolition of waiting lists entirely many years ago, but this never happened. Who knows what demands lie ahead from winter vomiting bugs to viruses to other things that come this way. The new Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, has a number of new personnel in his Department and in the HSE looking at the scale of what he faces. For instance, we recognise that in the longer term, the move towards universal health insurance will be a way to end a discriminatory and unfair system and bring about a situation where people have treatment based on their needs, which will reduce costs overall. The Minister is working hard on the development of that policy and on the determination of the range of costs.

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