Results 3,101-3,120 of 35,540 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

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: Hang on.

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: Is Mr. Moloney trying to tell me that, during the budget process, the Department of Health did not tell him that it was going to run a deficit this year, that it could not stop most of that and that it is going to repeat itself next year? Why were Robert Watt and the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, asking for €2 billion? It is because of that exact fact, that this is recurring.

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: Let us move to another question because, if my understanding of the issue is correct, it makes a mockery of the budget. Is the €550 million allocated for health expenditure related to Covid really for Covid expenditure or is Mr. Moloney saying it is for something else?

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: Is that demand going to disappear?

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 presentation Mr. Moloney is giving here is not the presentation the Department of Health and the head of the HSE has given the Joint Committee on Health. They were crystal clear and could not be clearer that they are sticking to their guns on this issue and saying that the deficit is €1.5 billion and that two thirds of this is recurring. They are not looking for one-offs; 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: Mr. Moloney talks about financial risk. That is recognised in most plans, especially in a Department or agency of this size. That is not what Bernard Gloster is talking about. He is saying he is going to present a plan with a built-in deficit and that this will be first time he can remember that happening. He is saying that, with the money Mr. Moloney's Department has provided, it is not...

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 am not talking about financial risk. There is going to be a deficit. In service plans-----

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: Is it acceptable to Mr. Moloney, as General Secretary in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan and Reform, that the head of the HSE presents a plan that will have an in-built deficit before we even open the doors in January of next year and that he is saying there will be an in-built deficit?

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: Explain it to me.

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: Is Mr. Moloney saying that an in-built deficit would be incompatible with that legislation?

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: Mr. Moloney would advise the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan and Reform who oversees expenditure.

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: In relation to that, would it be compatible in Mr. Moloney's view with the legislation?

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 am not talking about financial risk. I appreciate that is where Mr. Moloney wants to take me. I am not talking about that. Bernard Gloster did not say he was going to present a service plan with a financial risk. He said he will present a service plan to the Government with an in-built deficit.

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: Mr. Moloney has not engaged with the Department of Health but does he believe that an in-built deficit is compatible with the law?

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: Therefore the funding that is available is what is expended in that year and there cannot be a deficit. Would that be Mr. Moloney's interpretation?

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 will make a last point. In fairness Deputy Conway-Walsh dealt with this in detail but it is important because it is the Government's response to this. It said we spend the most money in Europe in relation to health and Mr. Moloney came here and repeated that. Ireland ranks first in EU expenditure on healthcare as a proportion of our national income. Please acknowledge that that includes...

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 am reading from the ESRI report from 2020, so there are updated figures. It is a study in regard to Ireland's healthcare in international terms. I am sure Mr. Moloney is familiar with this, or maybe his colleague is. It says Ireland's total healthcare expenditure as a share of national income ranks first in the EU 15. That is what Mr. Moloney said. Obviously across the EU it would be...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (9 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: It is now more than a month since more than 80 GPs and 11 consultants from my county and that of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine wrote to the Minister for Health expressing their grave concerns at the deepening crisis in Letterkenny University Hospital. They have requested that the Minister for Health travel to Donegal to meet them urgently. The Minister for Health is sitting...

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (9 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister did not.

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (9 Nov 2023)

Pearse Doherty: In Donegal.