Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a zero-sum game. Healthcare rightly continues to take a large portion of the overall budget. It has also rightly taken the lions share of the increased capacity for expenditure because that is where investment is needed. The priority in expenditure should be health and housing but there are limits to what we can spend, even in an economy that is growing at the pace we are currently enjoying. This is a necessary step-by-step incremental improvement consistent with the Sláintecare model that we all have signed up to and that I hope will be continued by future Governments, regardless of whether they involve my party. That is the way we need to see the implementation of the Sláintecare model delivered. Asks need to be realistic, year on year, in terms of the amount of funding available. A significant amount of extra funding will be spent next year compared with this year and I also expect major increases in funding the following year. As we can afford to introduce incremental changes and improvements to healthcare, the Deputy will see them happen consistent with Sláintecare.

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