Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her questions. First, to respond to the comments she made and the questions relating to the articles in the Business Post, the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and I have a good working relationship. Officials of the two Departments engage on an ongoing basis. There is a health budget oversight group involving officials from both Departments that meets regularly and, as one would expect, we have occasional bilateral ministerial meetings as well, and sometimes on specific issues. For example, we had one in the middle of last year to review progress on the implementation of the budgetary measures for 2021.

The accounts for the HSE in 2021 are currently being finalised. The Minister gave an update to the Cabinet today that on a cash basis the health Vote was €469 million below profile. They are now calculating the level of accruals that relate to 2021 and it is expected there will be a deficit of perhaps up to €140 million for 2021. Those accounts are due to be finalised by the end of this month and any question of a prior year adjustment relating to 2020 will be dealt with in that context as well. There was a Supplementary Estimate of just over €500 million in 2020. The HSE ended 2020 with cash reserves of over €800 million and over €260 million was ultimately returned to the Exchequer in respect of 2020. The question of any prior year adjustment will be dealt with in the coming weeks as part of the finalisation of the 2020 accounts. The Comptroller and Auditor General has commented on that issue and has outlined what the process is in that regard.

On the issue of cancer care, the central tenet of Sláintecare, and the Deputy knows more about this than most, is that cost would not be a barrier to accessing healthcare. The Government is committed to meeting that goal. We recognise that any form of cost that people face to access vital healthcare is a barrier and must be addressed. We have made significant progress. Recently, we announced a further reduction from €100 to €80 in the drugs payment scheme threshold for medicine . That is an important reform. We have provided €300 million in respect of waiting list initiatives for this year as well. The Government is certainly of the view that when it comes to cancer and other acute conditions cost should never be a barrier to accessing the services people need in our acute hospital system. We are committed to achieving that goal.

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