Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On Deputy O'Reilly's question about the allocation of hours,140,000 additional hours have been allocated in the first three or four months of the year. There is a target of 800,000 additional hours for the entire year. It is up to the HSE to decide how to allocate and decide where it will prioritise allocation. Obviously, there would be the optimum allocation for the winter months. The HSE may well keep a large portion of the hours for the winter months when the pressure is on hospitals and emergency departments. I do not have any control over how it allocates the 800,000 additional hours. All I did was give it the cheque to pay for them.

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