Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to announce that funding in budget 2018 has been allocated to target a number of key areas in health promotion and in supporting our most vulnerable health care users. Another €5 million will be available for the Healthy Ireland fund in 2018. Healthy Ireland is the national framework for action to improve the health and well-being of people living in Ireland. The fund will support partnership working in different sectors and communities to help ensure our policies under Healthy Ireland have an impact at local level. It is important that we keep a focus on prevention and on empowering people and communities to improve their health and well-being. The announcement by the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, of his commitment to introduce a sugar tax in April 2018 is a very progressive step to tackle obesity. This supports our public health and well-being objectives, particularly by helping to improve the health of children and young people.

I welcome the increase in excise duty of 50 cent per pack of 20 cigarettes, together with the pro rataincreases for other tobacco products and the additional 25 cent increase on a 30 gramme pack of roll-your-own tobacco. This measure will help reduce the number of young people taking up smoking as well as encouraging smokers to quit or reduce the amount they smoke.

The increase in the VAT rate on sunbed services from 13.5% to the standard rate of 23% is also welcome. This was done in recognition of the clear link between sunbeds and skin cancer, the most common form of cancer in Ireland. Many young people have been diagnosed with skin cancer and it is a recognition of the fact that for many people sunbeds have led to the problems they have. Earlier this year we launched our new cancer strategy, of which prevention is the cornerstone. Any measures to help support people making healthier choices and reducing their risk of cancer are very welcome.

In the area of social inclusion and supporting the most vulnerable, significant additional funding of €9 million has been provided for 2018. In July we launched our new strategy, Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery. This strategy takes a health-led, person-centred approach to drug and alcohol use in Ireland. I am pleased to inform the House that significant additional resources are being made available in 2018 to ensure immediate progress on priority actions from the strategy, including expanding drug and alcohol services, with the objective of reducing waiting times and promoting person-centred care. This will include the establishment of a treatment service in Kildare and the enhancement of treatment capacity in other areas; developing a new programme to promote community awareness of alcohol-related harm, which will be introduced during 2018; increasing the number of drug liaison midwives to five by the end of 2018 to improve the link between maternity services and the drug and alcohol treatment services outside the capital; and developing a targeted new youth services scheme for young people at risk of substance misuse in socially and economically disadvantaged communities. In addition, the Government intends to maintain a focus on the health needs of the most vulnerable groups in society, particularly those who experience health inequalities, have difficulties accessing services and present with multiple, complex health and support needs. The significant increased funding for social inclusion will be used to respond to the pressing health needs of refugees arriving in emergency reception and orientation centres by improving access to primary care services, with a particular focus on addressing their oral health needs. It will also be used to address the health needs of people who are homeless and have mental health and addiction issues in line with the Rebuilding Ireland and Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery strategies. We intend to increase the level of expenditure on health supports and specialist in-reach services in order to make every effort to remove barriers to health care experienced by those affected by homelessness and addiction. It will increase the capacity of the mobile health clinic, currently providing outreach services for hard-to-reach homeless people with complex needs in the Dublin area to operate on a five-day a week basis.

I have heard this afternoon from some contributors that the budget is like a cake: it depends on how it is sliced up. This time, the slice for many people may not have been as significant as they believed it should have been but we have reached a point where recovery is on the way. In future, we will have a better economy and society for most people who are struggling to survive on a daily basis, as many have said. This is only the beginning of the cutting of the cake. I hope we can continue to build on it into the future.

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