Minister for Health Simon Harris is to seek Cabinet approval to open 2,500 additional beds in the health service between now and 2031.
Mr Harris will bring the capacity review, which examines the needs of the health service, to Tuesday morning’s meeting for consideration.
The report, as revealed in The Irish Times, says 9,000 additional beds will be needed by 2031 if a number of key reforms are not introduced.
However, its final recommendation is 2,500 beds will be required if the Government commits to introducing Sláintecare reforms.
It is understood Mr Harris will recommend the proposals be considered as part of the Government’s capital plan.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) has estimated each bed would cost €1 million to provide, meaning the additional beds would cost more than €2.5 billion.
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has strongly criticised the Governmet for failing to inform his party of the scale of the difficulties facing the health service.
Mr Martin was responding to reports in The Irish Times of a potential €881 million shortfall in its budget for this year and a warning from HSE director general Tony O'Brien that new value-for-money savings targets of €346 million may not be realised.
The Fianna Fáil leader said he had met Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last week and raised his concerns regarding the health service budget.
Mr Varadkar did not make the funding situation known to him at this meeting, Mr Martin added.
“There is a need for full transparency in terms of how realistic the health estimate is for our hospitals and our primary care and community centres.
“I have deep concerns about where the health service is going and the lack of any real sense that the Government is on top of it or moving in the right direction.”
Additional funding
In correspondence to the Minister for Health in November, Mr O’Brien argued that the HSE would need close to €1.5 billion in additional funding this year to maintain existing levels of services.
He told the Minister the potential overall financial challenge facing the HSE was estimated at €881 million before cost-mitigation measures including the value-for-money savings and the areas covered by the Department of Health planning assumptions.
The correspondence is likely to dominate Dáil proceedings on Tuesday as opposition leaders question the failure to disclose the scale of the financial difficulties facing the HSE.
Sinn Féin TD Louise O’Reilly has requested a meeting of the Oireachtas committee on health to considering inviting the HSE and the Department of Health to answer questions on the matter.
The party spokeswoman on health said the Government is “numerically illiterate when it comes to the health budget”.
“The HSE and the Department of Health need to meet immediately to assess how this situation can be resolved or else we will be facing into an even greater crisis later in the year.”
