Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy. As he is aware, the programme for Government will set out a review of the national development plan as a key priority. Through the NDP review, we are prioritising critical economic growth but also the health infrastructure we need to have, which the Deputy has articulated.

The substantially enhanced NDP provision for the health sector of €9.25 billion will support the delivery of equitable, accessible and high-quality healthcare across Ireland. We have seen a number of examples of that happening so far but there is quite a lot of work to do, such as the new surgical hub at Mount Carmel, the HSE health app and the 96-bed ward block in UHL. That is what has happened so far. As the Deputy and I both know, we have to drive further ahead.

The NDP settlement recognises that there are certain key programme for Government priorities in health that will progress to statutory approval towards the latter part of the current NDP. In relation to shovel-ready projects, I have assurance from the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation and his Department that they will be priorities for funding in the post-2030 NDP. The basic point is that if we get something to shovel-ready, we will be making the case to central Government for the funding to be enabled for that.

The Minister for public expenditure and reform has also confirmed that should there be underspends evident in the overall NDP allocation, the first allocation for that will go to the Department of Health. We have a programme of funding for the next five years. We have a challenge to meet that and get those to construction phase. Where we get something else to shovel-ready, I will be going to the Minister for public expenditure and reform looking for unspent allocation in other NDP programmes, the first call on that and indeed the first round of funding. My challenge is, frankly, getting things to shovel-ready stage. I am confident of the funding for electronic health and for the infrastructure projects we have. Our bigger difficulty is getting them to shovel-ready.

See this speech in context