Results 21-40 of 26,844 for speaker:David Cullinane
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: It does not say that. It refers to including revised savings targets. That suggests that the figure had changed. We will come back to that and perhaps the Minister can give us unredacted versions of the previous plans. We are being told here that no change was made. I want to know if that was the case. I want to see the original documents, if that is possible, so we can see the targets...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: That figure is a very small amount of the overall budget. We are talking about efficiency and savings. When I look at the figure of €633 million, it is significant in its own right but less so in the context of the overall budget, and it is over two years rather than one year. Is it the Minister's view that those targets are sufficient or would she be looking to increase those targets?
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: -----but we had to provide an additional €1.5 billion last year to essentially plug a hole in what were cumulative deficits that had built up over a number of years. We were not allocating sufficient funding to deal with even existing levels of service. We had many discussions in this committee with the previous Minister for Health, the head of the HSE and the Secretary General of...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: It is small and it is important. I am not saying it is not important-----
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: How much did we spend on agency in 2024?
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: We were told by the head of the HSE that very significant savings needed to be made in this area, including converting-----
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: Bear with me, because I am not finished my question yet-----
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: This included converting a lot of that spend into whole-time equivalent positions, which is obviously a place we want to get to. How does that €730 million compare with the previous year?
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: What about the year before that?
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: Rather than being reduced, it has increased year on year.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: I accept that but I am just making the point that there is-----
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: If I can finish, I am just making the point that there is a lot of expenditure in this area. Going back to my role in the previous health committee, we identified these areas over a long number of years as areas where we need to achieve savings and reduce expenditure. It seems to be going up and up rather than going down. I would like to see more focus on how we can achieve savings as...
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: How does that break down? How much is in the access to care fund?
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: It is a huge amount of money and we have to make sure that we are getting value for that money. There does not seem to be a lot of transparency around the access to care fund. I put in parliamentary questions looking for a breakdown of how that money is spent across hospitals and we cannot seem to get it.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: -----and how it is being spend.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: We have not been able to get it. That is the point.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: Will that be made available to the committee?
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: I accept that, but Deputy Carroll MacNeill is the Minister and she said that she wants to achieve efficiency within the healthcare system. When we allocate that amount of money for waiting list initiatives, it is not unreasonable for members of the health committee to know, by hospital, where that money is going-----
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: That was good timing, so.
- Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 38 - Department of Health (Revised) (25 Jun 2025) David Cullinane: I want to get clarification on a number of issues. Last year, the health committee considered the review into the termination of pregnancy Act 2018. It was a very detailed review, commissioned by the previous Government. The work was done by Ms Marie O'Shea BL, who made very clear recommendations. I do not see it anywhere in the programme for Government. I think the committee has written...