Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I draw the Taoiseach's attention to comments made by the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar, in the Dáil last Wednesday in response to a parliamentary question on Health Service Executive funding for 2015. In the course of his reply, he stated:

We need additional resources for the fair deal scheme, home care packages and home help provision.

As the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, and Mr. Tony O'Brien have outlined, there are three options for achieving these objectives. We could opt to reprioritise spending within the health Vote or we could bring forward a spending plan later in the year. The third option, pretending the problem will somehow go away in the summer, is not really an option. That is a total nonsense and fewer and fewer people believe it. When it comes to a decision on the three options, it is not one I can make on my own; it must be done in conjunction with the Cabinet committee on health and the Economic Management Council. All members of the Cabinet committee and the EMC are fully apprised of the situation and have been since November.

The Minister made these comments last week, despite the fact that he had said last October that he had secured an adequate budget for the health service. I am surprised that he has scurried out of the Chamber just now. In the context of the appalling situation in hospital emergency departments and in regard to the fair deal scheme, home care packages and home help provision, he is now saying, in February, that the budget cannot hold, despite his claim two or three months ago that it could. When can we expect a new spending plan for the health service? In other words, when can we expect a supplementary health budget? Will it be larger than last year's allocation? We need a straight answer to these questions. The Minister stated clearly that he was considering bringing forward a spending plan. We need absolute clarity as to when the Supplementary Estimate will be brought before the House.

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