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

The budget for the health service this year is €22 billion. It is the biggest health budget we have ever seen in the history of the State. When I was Minister for Health, it was €14 billion. It is 50% higher now than it was then, and more than double what it was when I was practising as a doctor in the public health service. Money is certainly not the issue any more when it comes to our health service. As the Deputy pointed out, some of the money will even go unspent this year. There is no lack of money and no lack of political will, but there are real constraints. The Deputy knows as well as I do that adding an additional bed is not simply buying a piece of furniture; it is a whole system and that takes time to do. Recruiting people is difficult as well. The fact that the HSE has added more than 7,000 additional, mainly clinical, staff this year is an achievement, and one we should recognise. The HSE has the authority now to continue that recruitment and take on more staff.

Yes, we did not add the 1,000 beds we aimed for, but we did add 850 and that is the equivalent of two hospitals. It is quite an achievement in the space of less than two years and we need to continue with that now. Although trolley numbers are still too high today, they are not far off half of what they were two years ago. We need to keep expanding our health service to bring those numbers down further.

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