Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not take any comfort, nor I am sure does anyone, from the fact there is a Cabinet sub-committee on health, that the Government has an official group on health, that the Minister is discussing budgetary matters daily with the Minister, Deputy Leo Varadkar, and yet we have the mess and the misery that reigns in our hospitals. The Minister commended himself on his increase in funding to the system, but the current service plan imposed on the HSE is €150 million short of what it needs. We heard from Tony O'Brien, the man the Minister, Deputy Howlin, put in charge of the HSE, that funding for hospitals is €100 million less than required. That is simply to stand still. We know there is €1.5 billion less in the health budget than there was in 2008. That is where it sits. I would like the Minister to tell us in more substantive terms what discussions he has had directly with the Minister, Deputy Leo Varadkar, in respect of the underfunding of the health system.

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