Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste will provide more detail later on the full range of social protection measures.

Society - Health

The Government continues to recognise health as a key priority and will provide €13.1 billion for the delivery of health services next year. In 2015, more than 2.1 million people - nearly half the population - will have a medical or GP visit card. This includes our extension of GP coverage to those under six and those over 70. We will provide additional staff so that patients can access mental health services, such as psychologists and counsellors in the primary care setting. I am providing an additional €25 million to deal with delayed discharges in hospitals. I am allocating more than €3 billion to support older people and disabled services in 2015, and €2.3 billion for prescription drugs.

I want to pay particular tribute to our hospital services and to the people who work in them. The Government prioritises these key services. I remind the House that the number of people working in hospitals has remained at 2011 levels of more than 48,000 people, despite increased demands on their services. The additional funding being provided today will ensure the continued provision of core services and enable delivery of programme for Government commitments to further enhance the health and well-being of our population. Further details will be provided later today by my colleague, the Minister for Health.

Society - Education

I am allocating €8.3 billion to the education sector for current expenditure in 2015. I confirm there will be no increases in class sizes and no reduction in the numbers of teachers or special needs assistants. On the contrary, next year will see more than 1,700 additional new full-time posts. This is comprised of 920 mainstream teachers, 480 resource teachers and 365 special needs assistants. I am also allocating €530 million to education for capital expenditure. It is worth noting that in the lifetime of the Government more than 150 new schools will have been built and there will be large scale extensions or improvements of a further 100 schools. At third Level, we have seen the completion of the first phase of the new Grangegorman campus at the Dublin Institute of Technology.

Other Measures

I would like to briefly outline some further measures.

Justice

Some €2.2 billion will be allocated to the justice sector, which will allow for the future recruitment of more gardaí.

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