Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The NTPF paid €10 million for ophthalmology procedures in 2018. The Government and the State are not resiling from underpinning this financially. The NTPF is paying about €1,450 per cataract operation. That is outsourced to private hospitals here or in the North. Since I became Taoiseach, I have been anxious that we build up capacity in our own centres in order that people in west Cork, Cork city, Kerry, Limerick or anywhere do not have to go to Belfast or outside the jurisdiction to get cataract surgery done. That is my objective. It is more cost effective and better for the patient to have that approach and system. That is all I am saying. I commend the Deputy on the work he is doing but the taxpayer is paying for it.

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