Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe has said that Budget 2024 has provided for a total allocation of €22.5 billion for the public health system.
This includes an €808 million increase in core current funding to address demographic and service pressures, Mr Donohoe said.
He said he would also allocate non-core resources of over €1bn for Covid and Ukraine spending in the health sector, which he said will facilitate continued investment in public health measures, including the country's vaccination programme.
The minister said the Government remains committed to reducing waiting lists in hospital and community services and today's Budget will fund a range of measures to reduce waiting times for inpatient care, and to improve access to community diagnostics.
To this end, the minister said the Government will continue the targeted recruitment of additional staff to enhance capacity across a range of acute hospital and community settings as well as surgical hubs.
It will also continue the reform measures to progress the regionalisation of the health service to make it more responsive to each patient's needs.
Budget 2024 a 'missed opportunity' - IMO
The Irish Medical Organisation has described the Budget as a missed opportunity to invest in health services to meet the needs of the population.
It said that 2024 will be another difficult year for patients as there will be little or no improvement in capacity, services or waiting lists.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association said the Budget had not provided the necessary capital funding to build and open the additional acute hospital beds and theatre capacity in public hospitals.
The Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation said it was disappointed that specific figures had not been provided detailing exactly how the Safe Staffing Framework will be implemented into 2024.
The union said it was very fearful that it will not see safe staffing across all acute hospitals in the year ahead.
