189 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health if he will make a statement on recent reported comments by a person (details supplied) that public resources for hospital services are unlikely to increase in real terms for the foreseeable future; the way in which he will improve hospital services over the next number of years.

The statement quoted by the Deputy is in accordance with my own assessment of the likely situation, given the already high proportion of the annual budget devoted to acute hospital services and the need to develop further community based services. Hospital services will be maintained and improved through further increases in productivity, carefully targeted investment in critical service needs and the provision of sufficient capital resources to maintain the efficiency of the existing system.