Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is accounted for properly. As we speak, the HSE officials are before the Joint Committee on Health dealing with this matter. The Minister, Deputy Harris, appears before the committee regularly to deal with related issues. I deal with questions on it regularly, principally from the Deputy.

It is only fair to acknowledge that his pre-budget submission addressed how additional resources would be generated.

I acknowledge that. As the Deputy knows, my view is that some of the measures he is looking to implement would have very damaging effects on jobs and incomes in our society. That in turn would affect our ability to put in place the kind of investment that is needed in our health services.

Particularly as we move into 2019, we need to put a structure in place to ensure that the kind of difficulty that developed this year does not happen in the same way next year. The Minister for Health and I are committed to doing that. In that regard, I particularly welcome the fact that we have appointed an executive chairperson for the HSE and I look forward to working with him on this issue.

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