Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I note reports of plans by a private company to build a private hospital in Swords. I have not met anyone involved with the development of this proposal.

This is a time of unprecedented capital investment to develop our public health services under Project Ireland 2040. Our public health service was starved during the recessionary and somewhat during the Celtic tiger years of significant health investment from a capital perspective. Current budgets rose, capital budgets did not. We now have 165% more to spend on capital over the next ten years than in the last ten years. That is about €11 billion compared to just €4 billion. Our national development plan outlines the projects that we intend to deliver during that time.

It is of course the reality today, which the Deputy knows well, whether she or I agree with, that the public health service and the State utilises capacity that is available in private health facilities. It does that through the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF which is now investing a third of its budget in public and not just private hospitals. The reality today as we move towards creating a universal healthcare system is both public and private models are used. It is also a reality, whether or not the Deputy agrees with it, that through the NTPF and others, private hospitals sometimes have service level agreements, SLAs, and the like to provide services. I have no role in that regard.

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