Social Democrat TD Roisin Shortall has been elected to chair the new all-party Dáil committee planning the future of the health service.

Ms Shortall, a former Labour minister of state at the Department of Health, was elected unopposed by the committee at its first meeting today.

The committee, which is due to report back to the Dáil within six months, is tasked with planning the future of the health service over the next 10 years.

Ms Shortall said the committee had a challenging and exciting task to step back from the day-to-day issues in health and look at the bigger picture.

The two main objectives would be to develop proposals for a new funding model and to re-orient the health system away from hospitals and towards primary care.

It was important the work of the committee did not overlap with that of the existing Oireachtas health committee, she said.