Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not enthusiastic about or inclined to go down the road of increased student contributions or a student loan system for that reason. On the Scally report, I thank Dr. Scally for the work he did in preparing it in the first instance and the ongoing work he is doing for Government in monitoring its implementation. We want to make sure it gets implemented and that is why we have asked him to come back every three to six months to do a progress report. People who have seen his progress report will know that a lot of progress has been made in some areas while a lot more needs to be made in others.

On open disclosure, the Civil Liability (Amendment) Act has been commenced so the protection of open disclosure is provided for in legislation now. The next step is the patient safety Bill, which is to make it mandatory in certain circumstances, particularly for serious events but more broadly than that. I understand the heads are at committee for scrutiny at the moment and we anticipate having it in the House later in the year.

The delivery of affordable housing is of course a Government priority. The best way to make housing affordable is supply because supply will help to moderate and bring down the cost of housing. There were 18,000 new homes built last year, more than any year this decade-----

See this speech in context