Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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334. To ask the Minister for Health the costs incurred to date by his Department with regard to the programme for Government commitment to introduce universal health insurance [44997/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department has incurred costs of €211,971.99 to date in respect of the Government's commitment to the introduction of Universal Health Insurance (UHI) in Ireland. The main elements of expenditure were legal research and advisory services on technical aspects of UHI (€141,450) and costs associated with the public consultation on the White Paper on UHI (€56,637.68). The remaining costs totalling €13,884.31 include items such as Irish translation services for UHI publications, costs associated with the UHI Implementation Group and travel costs for international experts. It should be noted that the figure of €211,971.99 is exclusive of normal staffing and other incidental costs which were expended from my Department's annual budgets in the years 2011 to 2014 inclusive.