One of the winners in the estimates campaign was the Department of Health and Children, where spending is set to rise by 11 per cent. The Minister, Mr Cowen, said the extra funding showed the Government's determination to maintain a "quality health service".
All areas of the system would benefit, he said, including the acute hospital service, primary care and continuing care. Mr Cowen said that for every £4.50 of public money spent, £1 went to the health services.
"I think what we have achieved is an indication of the priority the Government attaches to health. We recognise that it will not be the solution to all problems but it is a significant increase by any standards," he said.
Asked about difficulties with some health boards which had overrun their budgets, including the western and midland boards, the Minister said the boards were now legally obliged to stay within the allocation given at the start of the year. Further funding to clear hospital waiting lists and improve services for the elderly and handicapped would be included in the Budget, said the Minister.
The Fine Gael health spokesman, Mr Alan Shatter, said the estimates showed the Minister's spending by the end of the year would be £32 million less than the sum estimated at the start of the year and sanctioned by the Department of Finance.
The estimates revealed that the Minister "has sat in his Department on a treasure chest of £32 million whilst presiding over the most dramatic increase in hospital waiting lists in the history of the State and an unprecedented number of bed closures".
Mr Cowen said he would shortly present a plan to Government to tackle waiting lists, following the report of the group he established to examine the problem. The waiting list allocation would be revealed in the Budget, but he was unwilling to say specifically how much he was seeking.
"I am not prepared to divert monies presently going into organised care simply because the hospital lobby is better organised." He said other important parts of the £155 million capital programme for next year would include the relocation of the Blood Transfusion Service Board to a new site at St James's Hospital at a cost of £27 million, as well as funding to prepare health service computers for the new millennium.