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

I did not get a chance to watch all the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis but I picked up some aspects of it from the extensive media coverage. I can report that the Minister for Health is in good form over the last 48 hours in terms of the underpinning of the substantial health budget which will be required. He might optimistically think that his bilaterals with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, may not be as difficult or challenging as health Ministers generally have them with Ministers of public expenditure. That remains to be seen.

In a more serious vein, the programme for Government aims essentially to take this country through the pandemic as safely as possible, to facilitate the emergence of a strong economy and society and to learn the lessons of the pandemic in terms of a stronger state in health with reforms and funding. It is not just about funding, but the reforms that go along with it.

We have learned a lot during the pandemic. I was keen in late summer when working with the Minister for Health to ensure the winter initiative was introduced with €600 million, an unprecedented level of funding for a winter initiative, and to give full-year funding to that. That has made a significant difference to the capacity of the health service to withstand normal winter pressures, never mind the third wave. If it had not been for that level of investment in home care packages, community diagnostics and acute capacity, we would have been in far greater difficulty during the winter.

Regarding information technology, the digital transformation that occurred in certain aspects of health is something else we have to build on as we emerge from the pandemic. There will, without question, be a stronger health budget in the next year or two to make sure we embed the reforms that have been made and to underpin the level of services required. We are living longer generally and that will create its own additional cost.

On housing, we are very clear the single biggest issue of our time is to make sure the current generation, particularly but not just young people, are in a position to get into the housing market and buy houses that they can afford and that we can provide more social housing. With the Housing for All strategy, we are focusing on a significant social housing programme for the next five years.

Another key plank is climate change. We have already brought groundbreaking climate change legislation into this House and had it passed. There is a very extensive programme for Government which we are focused on delivering.

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