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Minister Harris welcomes additional €500 million for health
Minister Harris welcoming additional funding for the health service
Health Minister Simon Harris today welcomed the Government approval of a Revised Estimate for the Department of Health of €500 million, saying that it would allow Programme for Government commitments to be met while also addressing financial pressures in the health service.
My top priority is addressing some immediate problems facing patients as well as seeing Programme for Government commitments for the first 100 days implemented. I am pleased to say that as a result of today’s announcement I am confident that we will have confirmed funding for a winter initiative to help address overcrowding in Emergency Departments. As an integral part of this initiative, I will increase resources for home care services. I can also confirm that the revised estimate will allow us to restore the full ring-fenced mental health budget and provide more funding to school-leavers with disabilities. I expect Ministers McEntee & McGrath will outline more detail on these initiatives in the coming days.