Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The most telling thing in the service plan is the comment of Tony O'Brien, Director General of the HSE, in the executive summary to the effect that it will not be possible to put in place any additional or new service developments. That says it all. Despite fanfare about increased funding, all we have done is allow the €500 million overrun and thereafter is it €80 million or €110 million we have got? I would like to know if the €110 million figure includes the €35 million which has been earmarked for several years for mental health services. Perhaps the Minister of State could clarify that. Either way, the funding will just about deal with demographic pressures. As Tony O'Brien says, it will have no significant impact in terms of the delivery of services.

There are so many questions. All of this is against a background of a budget cut from €16 billion to €13 billion over the last number of years, 10,000 staff gone and thousands of beds closed. It is not possible to see how this budget can have an impact on the crisis that has 40,000 people on waiting lists for over a year and 300,000 people on waiting lists altogether. There are also questions around medical card discretion. In the 2014 budget, €1,875,000 was allowed for but in 2015 there is only €1,722,000, which is a cut of €150,000 on what was allowed for last year. The target last year for elective procedures for children was 100%. While the service plan shows we only managed 50%, the target is back to 100% this year. It does not add up. The target for compliance with the working time directive last year was 100% but the actual outturn was only 67%. The target is nevertheless back up to 100% this year. Again, it does not add up.

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