Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirím fáilte roimhe an Aire Stáit. The Minister of State will be aware that after the budget, a €100 million health sector winter fund was announced to deal with various emergency costs. This would be particularly targeted at section 39 providers to meet some of their costs. The Ministers of State, Deputies Rabbitte, Butler and Feighan have identified some of the organisations that could benefit from this. We know about them all around the country, including, in my own area, St. Aidan's Services in Gorey. Some of it is about addressing capacity issues but some of it is designed to meet the cost-of-living crisis we all face. Some of it is to deal with the rising energy costs.

The challenge is that the €100 million has been announced but we do not have any detail of it yet. It is meant to be a winter fund. I am not quite sure when winter is regarded as starting but from the drips in the Chamber here and in the other Chamber yesterday, and from what I experienced on the way home to Wexford last night, we are certainly not in the middle of summer or spring. It is important that we get clarity on that €100 million in regard to how its allocation is going to be determined, how section 39 organisations will be able to apply or will receive some of the funding and where it will go. Is it going to be for addressing capacity issues? Will it be around addressing the ongoing increased costs that everybody is facing? Will it be towards energy costs? What about the case of the staff? This has been an issue for a number of section 39 and other organisations, namely, addressing some of the salary concerns. Workers within the section 39 system often do the same work as their equivalents within the HSE but are paid less. Will some of the funding be directed towards that? At this stage it is important that we get clarity particularly for those section 39 organisations. I would be grateful if the Minister of State would provide us with more detail.