Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 164: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the increase in funding allocated to the national health service in each of the years since 2000; the breakdown of the allocation of funding for each of these years; the primary person or department responsible for the allocation of funding in the health service; and the services and targets set down and achieved in each year. [2506/09]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Increases in funding for health services, and excluding Vote 41 Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, since 2000 are set out in the table.

The figures are derived from the Revised Estimates Volume. However they exclude funding provided in respect of certain costs such as Hepatitis C Compensation Payments, Health Repayment Scheme, the Lourdes Redress Scheme and Dormant Account Funding, which are not related to the provision of services. The figure for 2005 includes additional funding arising from the inclusion in the Health Service Executive (HSE) Vote of monies which prior to its establishment were received and accounted for independently by the Health Boards outside the published Estimates.

Funding for service developments was provided for all the programmes in Health which include Care of Older People, Children and Families, Care for People with Disabilities, Mental Health, Primary Care, Acute Hospitals and Cancer Control Programme. The additional funding was mainly required to meet a range of issues including pay increases and related matters, cost pressures in Demand-Led Schemes, pressures arising from demographic and technological changes as well as general inflation and developments in service.

Funding for my Department and the agencies it directly funds is provided by the Government in Vote 39, subject to the approval of the Dáil. The allocation of funding between agencies funded under this Vote is approved by me. The funding for the HSE is agreed each year by Government as part of the Estimates process which includes negotiations between the Minister for Finance and myself with the support of our respective Departments. The Estimate for the HSE is subsequently put before the Dáil for approval. Operational responsibility for the management and delivery of health and personal social services is a matter for the HSE and funding for the services once approved by Government is provided within its Vote 40.

In Budget 2009, allowing for the adjustments indicated above, an additional €622 million was provided for the health services. The services and targets to be provided by the HSE in 2009 are set out in the National Service Plan which I approved in December, 2008. The National Service Plan provides details of all HSE funding and levels of service activities. The overall services and targets in respect of all of the funding provided across the Health Group of Votes is set out in the Annual Output Statement published by my Department each year.