Results 3,061-3,080 of 35,563 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I agree 100%. There will be a Revised Estimate next week in respect of the health budget. We talked yesterday at a meeting of the finance committee about how, on an accrual basis, that may be as high as €1.5 billion if we are led to believe what is in the media and, on a cash basis, what is needed between now and the end of the year could be €1.1 billion. None of that is...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Parts of it are going to be that. We know what the driver is.

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: We will already be between €1 billion and €1.5 billion in debt starting off, unless there is a way of making sure that none of the patients who were treated this year present next year or if the inflation we have seen this year simply goes away. We are going to have more inflation next year. We all know this. How is all of this going to disappear? How do these magical...

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Existing Levels of Service Costs: Discussion (15 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I will not ask my next question until after we return from the suspension.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I welcome the Secretary General and officials to the committee. I appreciate them coming before us to deal with issues in respect of health. While I am conscious that we are talking about percentages, existing levels of service, ELS, and, in some cases, billions, the real impacts of the decisions taken by Government just a couple of weeks ago are now being felt. They are being felt in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: The ELS provision for last year was €796 million. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Would Mr. Moloney accept that a higher percentage of ELS funding was provided last year than will be provided next year?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Does Mr. Moloney accept that, even when disability services, the ELS provision for which was €131 million this year, are included, a higher percentage of ELS funding was provided for health last year than will be provided this year?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: Even though we have an aging population and more people, as a percentage, less is being provided for ELS next year than was provided last year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: What did the Department of Health request as regards ELS for 2024? We know the Department provided it with €708 million but what was the ask?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I believe that is the figure he gave the committee. The Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform obviously did not agree with that figure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I accept and would expect that, in some cases, Departments ask for a higher level of funding for ELS than might be required or granted but, in this case, the ELS provision the Department of Health asked for was three times what the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, eventually provided. We are talking about a difference of €1.3 billion. No other Department would have seen as great a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I apologise to Mr. Moloney for the disruption. We were talking about existing levels of service and the provision in this regard by the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, in the health Vote. Does Mr. Moloney acknowledge that of the requested €2 billion, his Department provided €708 million? I have made the point that Departments would normally, I imagine, ask for more than what they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: I do not want to go there because, in my view, it is a bum argument. Departments would not be doing their job if they were not looking for new measures to enhance services. ELS, that is, what is needed to keep things standing still, should be something we are able to calculate. The Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and the Minister are saying...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Budget 2024 Expenditure Ceiling and Resource Allocation for the Department of Health and HSE: Discussion (14 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: We learned from RTÉ that Bernard Gloster wrote to his line Minister before the budget outlining his concerns regarding the allocation that was to be made. He said there would be "significant and punitive risks to the public" and that it was "imperative" that the Government should be "in no doubt as to the position". This was in respect of a Government decision being taken to provide...