Donnelly defends his health budget amid heavy criticism 

“Most of the spending for this year which is above what has been budgeted for is due to higher prices, higher patient demand than was forecast and then has been provided for in the budget,” the minister said yesterday. “Turning patients away from hospitals is not an option.”

The budget discussion was short of detail on how proposals such as reducing reliance on agency staff or monitoring procurement could affect spending or how a task-force targeting productivity will operate.

The budget of €22.5bn includes €36.3m to help prepare for surges in emergency care at hospitals.

Funding was allocated for a year of public fertility treatment, and to extend free contraception to women aged 31.

Minister of State for mental health Mary Butler said this budget rose to almost €1.3bn. This includes funding for 68 posts in Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (Camhs).

A new app, funded by €300,000, will sign-post young people to services in an effort to boost access.

However she said: “there is nothing in the budget to expand the ADHD teams for adults in 2024. We did have new teams this year.

I am disappointed that this year I won’t be able to continue the roll-out of ADHD teams for adults, that’s an honest answer.

Ms Butler also oversees care of older people, and said a fund of €2.6bn benefits Meals on Wheels services and provides for 22m homecare hours.

Ring-fenced dementia home support hours are funded, as are weekend clubs for early-onset dementia.

Private and voluntary nursing homes can access a new €10m fund to address regulatory requirements in addition to other funding.

Responding to overall recruitment plans, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) said retaining staff should be the focus. “We have over 400 vacancies in emergency departments alone, we have seen an exodus of midwives from the public health service and there is a recruitment crisis in public health nursing,” general secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha warned.

Mental Health Reform cautiously welcomed the increase of €75.2m on last year for this sector.

We are concerned by the lack of funding for new measures in mental health. Around €14m has been allocated for the development of services with no increase since last year.

“A minimum of €85m is required for the development of new measures to address unmet need.”

Nursing Homes Ireland said the plans are “a misjudgement“ with funding increases only a step in the right direction. They intend to meet Minister Butler, and said: “we are aware of people experiencing months of delay in accessing nursing home care and the closure of nursing homes.”

Also disappointed were hundreds of families affected by the mis-prescribing of an epilepsy drug to pregnant women. They had been hoping for funding to help alleviate the health pressures faced by their children, according to advocates OACS Ireland.