Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree largely with what the Deputy has said, but I must acknowledge a few points. The confidence and supply agreement is not a document that is meant to be introduced in one budget, and I know the Deputy's party recognises that point. It is something for a period of three budgets and is then to be reviewed, so obviously it cannot all be delivered in budget one. There also needs to be an acknowledgement of the timeframe within which the Government came to office and the gap between that and the Estimates period. The challenge was to get one budget in place for the health service, which happens to be the largest health budget ever on a like-by-like basis. That was the priority for this year. I would be rightly criticised if we asked an all-party Oireachtas committee to come up with a consensus for ten years and then I drove on and said here is the plan for the next five years anyway. I genuinely agree with the Deputy, and we see this in other countries, regarding having at least a service plan, if not a line-by-line budget, in terms of where we want to go. It allows our health services to plan and it also gives certainly to patients. It is something towards which I want to work with this House, but I see it very much happening in the context of the publication of the report in January.

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