Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The 25% figure came from a reply to a question put to the Department. Budget cuts were achieved through a variety of means over the austerity years. Staff numbers in the HSE were reduced from 111,000 to 99,000 from 2008 to 2015 and we are still reeling from that. Having listened to public health nurses last week on potential industrial action, I know they are absolutely crippled with work and cannot keep going. There were also cuts to pay. In the same period, home help hours for the elderly, disabled and sick went from 12.2 million to 8.3 million. Along with this, the cost of health care was shifted from the public purse to individuals, with increased charges introduced for accident and emergency visits and hospital stays and prescription charges introduced for medical card holders. A higher threshold was introduced for drugs for those who did not hold that card. All of this means that in 2013, citizens paid €450 million more for health in 2008. I am not asking the Minister to say he will produce €3 billion in a year but how will we bring ourselves back to the level we saw in 2008 and eliminate those out-of-pocket payments?

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