Fraught meeting heard health service needs €1.392bn in extra funding this year

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said he received the invitation to the meeting last Thursday, and officials worked through the weekend to meet committee deadlines.

A testy meeting between Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and the Oireachtas health committee heard the health services require €1.392bn in additional funding for 2022.

Committee chair Seán Crowe highlighted the extent of the crisis facing patients, saying: “I’d a constituent who was four hours watching her mother die on the floor, waiting on an ambulance to come, for a journey that could take maybe 10 minutes in an ambulance.”