Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was encouraged by the start of the Deputy's supplementary question but it went downhill after that.

Without wishing to damage the Deputy's credibility, I agree with him that if we continue to just pour resources into the health service without looking at the outcomes rather than the outputs, we will find ourselves in a cycle where we continue to increase investment but do not necessarily tackle the core issues. That is why I am disappointed that the Deputy's political grouping is the only one which did not sign up to the Sláintecare report. The report is a genuine effort by Deputies on all sides of the House to agree there is a need for increased resources, but it is how one spends them. If one continues to do everything in the acute hospital setting, it will continue to cost more money. As demographics continue to rise, with more older people and a rise in chronic diseases, the health system will then find it difficult to be sustainable.

I do not agree with the Deputy's waiting list figures because the figures for this year include data never published before. I have published more data as Minister for Health than any of my predecessors. The pre-planned list and the suspended list are both published, as a result of the RTÉ documentary on waiting lists. The Deputy is not comparing like with like in that regard. The waiting list trends for the past three months show some improvements.

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