Health minister warns current spending levels are 'not sustainable'

The minister for health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, said that 'there is no point in extra surgeons if they don't have a place to do extra surgical activity'. She and HSE CEO Bernard Gloster spoke to the media at the National Integrated Healthcare Conference 2025 in the Convention Centre. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins Photos

The health minister has warned it is “not sustainable” for health spending to continue at current high rates, and said her priority for the next budget is infrastructure not recruitment.

“What we need is extra capacity, we need extra infrastructure. There is no point in recruiting extra surgeons if they don’t have a place to do extra surgical activity.”