Northern Ireland's government may not be able to match spending on health in England, ministers at Stormont warned today.
Deputy First Minister Mr Mark Durkan and Finance Minister Mr Sean Farren claim Northern Ireland could lose out under the formula used by the Treasury to determine how much the power-sharing executive will get.
Although welcoming the commitment to health in Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr Gordon Brown's Budget, Mr Durkan said Stormont ministers had "concerns about the implications of the continuing use of the Barnett Formula to provide allocations to Northern Ireland.
"These allocations fall well short of the amounts needed to match growth in health spending in England," he said.
The Barnett formula determines how much Northern Ireland receives from the United Kingdom treasury for public services based on a population share calculation.
Hard choices would have to be made to direct funding to priority services and to ensure a proper standard of services, Mr Durkan said.
Mr Farren confirmed Northern Ireland would get £2.7 billion sterling of the extra £96 billion in health spending announced by Mr Brown for the next five years.
However Mr Farren warned if Northern Ireland were to receive the Barnett Formula share, it would be "insufficient to meet the needs of the health service locally". He said: "We will be pressing the Treasury for more in the forthcoming spending review".
PA