Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:"welcomes the Health Service Executive’s national service plan for 2015; recognises that the Government, in next year’s budget, has made provision for a welcome increase in the total financial resources available to the Health Service Executive, HSE, in 2015, and that this is reflected in the plan; notes that this increase in funding, which is comprised of additional Exchequer funding of €305 million, increased projected once-off revenues of €330 million, and minimum savings of €130 million in areas such as procurement and drug and agency costs, is part of a two year programme to stabilise and improve health funding after seven years of significant retrenchment as a direct consequence of the emergency financial situation the Irish State has had to address; further notes the fact that the Health Service Executive's 2015 national service plan provides generally for the delivery of existing levels of service while additionally targeting service enhancement in a number of priority areas through increased funding provision and further progress in the health service reform programme; further recognises that: — these enhancements include programme for Government commitments to extend the BreastCheck programme, the introduction of free general practitioner, GP, care without fees for those over 70 years of age and under six years of age, an expansion of mental health services, and further investment in suicide prevention; and there is also provision for 20,000 additional day surgery cases, additional funding of €2 million to improve maternity services, improved pilot ultrasound access for GPs in priority care sites and additional spending on community orthodontic and ophthalmic services; and — an additional €25 million is being provided to help address delayed discharges from acute settings which will fund a range of community and non-acute supports, including an additional 300 places under the nursing homes support scheme, the provision of 115 short-stay beds, including the opening of Mount Carmel as a community hospital for Dublin, 600 additional home care packages and the extension of community intervention teams; and supports the fact that the plan includes a considerably enhanced governance and accountability framework for 2015 which describes in detail the means by which the HSE and, within this, hospital groups, community health care organisations and other units will be held to account in 2015 for their efficiency and control in relation to service provision, patient safety, finance and human resources."- (Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Kathleen Lynch).

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