This morning, I believe, the Cabinet allocated an additional €500 million to the health service, which is extraordinary in itself in so far as it illustrates what we had all been saying at the time of the publication of the health service plan at the beginning of this year and prior to the election, which was that the budget for health was insufficient and represented a massaging of the figures before the general election. I pointed out that the figures were grossly inaccurate. The CEO of the HSE said that the health service was under a death sentence and that the level of money provided in the budget was wholly inadequate and had left a significant shortfall. The then Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, had indicated that there was a sufficiency of funding available to the health service.

If one goes back over the past three to four years, every year at budget time we essentially got false figures on health.

They could never have stood up and subsequently did not, including the infamous €680 million supplementary provision for 2014. We now know because it was stated by the former Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, that he knew the game was up when he lost the battle on that particular budget. Last year, a €600 million supplementary provision was provided.

The head of the HSE said that the current budget would only meet existing levels of service, that is, the level of service provided in 2015. Will the Taoiseach indicate if the €500 million allocation announced today will result in additional home care packages and mental health services and address acute hospital waiting lists and the shortage of funding in acute tertiary hospitals? The Taoiseach will be aware that the figures for May show that there are 509,000 people on the outpatient waiting list and that there are approximately 75,000 people waiting for surgery, which is a 50% increase on the 50,000 figure for 2014. These are extraordinary figures by any yardstick. They illustrate a failure over recent years to provide any meaningful health service provision. Will the extra €500 million provide additional services or is it a sticking plaster to enable delivery of current levels of service across the board?

I thank Deputy Martin for his question. While we must work together in the interests of the country, Deputy Martin knows well the difficulties often encountered in health and that, as history has shown, throwing money at a problem is not the answer. The Government is being criticised for making an adjustment to the health budget of more than €400 million and a further adjustment to the justice budget. We are in a position to do this because of the strengthening of the economy and growth in the economy. One of the lessons we have learned in the recent past is that, where possible, we should spend money from that growth on areas of social need and, in this case, health need. The extra allocation in terms of the adjusted Estimates, in respect of health in particular, is to deal with inadequacies, over-expenditure and much-needed investment in particular sectors. The Minister's top priority is immediate address of some of these problems within 100 days. Today's announcement confirms provision of additional funding for a winter initiative, about which the Minister has spoken, to help address overcrowding in emergency departments, which is always a cause of stress for people. As an integral part of that particular initiative the Minister will increase resources for home care services, including home help packages and so on.

The Minister, in conjunction with the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, will utilise the Revised Estimate to restore the full ring-fenced mental health budget and provide more training to school-leavers with disabilities, which are two important and sensitive areas raised occasionally by many people. Both Ministers will outline the detail of how that extra allocation will be spent to ensure delivery of services for people in those areas. Also, the Government made clear this morning that this is not a case of throwing money at the problem as demand and expenditure continues to rise and expecting to continue as before. The Government expects senior HSE personnel to be personally responsible for the management of their budgets and to ensure additional resources provided because of the strengthening economy are used to best effect in the interests of the patient they are supposed to serve. We have demanded a different range of governance and better accountability from the HSE and so health service management will be responsible for performance of their budgets, including any additional resources. It is in the acute hospitals that the Government sees the real possibility of greater returns. It is hoped that these additional allocations will benefit the people they are intended to benefit, namely, patients.

The reason for the allocation announced today is because the budget provision at the commencement of the year was inaccurate and false. This was pointed out before the election, including by the HSE chief executive officer when he said very explicitly that there was an under-provision for the health service, which has been under a death sentence for a number of years in terms of a lack of planning or vision. They are the words of the CEO of the HSE, not mine, as stated in the context of the health service plan.

The winter initiative is a hardy annual which had been announced already. I am still not clear on whether the €500 million will cover the overruns about which we learned when we met the health officials during talks prior to the formation of Government. These officials were estimating dramatic increases in the first two months of the year above allocated levels and projecting a significant deficit by the end of the year. This all points to a fundamental lack of transparency around health budgeting. The last three budgets have not provided the Dáil with an honest portrayal of health service requirements and needs.

Does the Deputy have a question?

Given the under-provision of €680 million in 2014, the under-provision of €600 million last year and the current additional €500 million now being allocated despite that we have not yet reached the halfway point of this year, there is no conclusion a person can come to other than that this is the result of bad planning and is resulting in extraordinary pressure on many services. I get no sense that there is the added value emanating from this that the Taoiseach mentioned.

The Deputy must ask a supplementary question now as his time has expired.

Is it the Taoiseach's view that the €500 million is to cover existing pressures on hospitals, or are there, line by line for each €10 million, additional services to be recognised over and above what was provided for in the health service plan?

When we were spending almost €15 billion in the health system, we had serious overruns, a lack of accountability, a lack of transparency and a lack of effective management. The programme for Government commits to the establishment of a performance management unit which will require managers of individual hospitals to work with the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health to achieve an effective return on the moneys they receive. The extra allocation of more than €400 million is for the maintenance of existing services, to address overruns that have occurred, particularly in acute hospitals, to deal with what the Deputy called a hardy annual, namely, the winter initiative, which is an important element of health care, and to provide for school-leavers with disabilities, home care packages and full restoration of the intended allocation for mental health services, which money was not allocated in the manner it should have been.

I expect that following organisation next week by the Whips of Dáil business, there will be ample opportunity for Members of this House to tease out the details of these issues in plenary session and in committee. As I indicated, the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, will spell out the details of what is involved in terms of additional services for mental health and in respect of school-leavers with disabilities who need these extra funds.