Closing remarks for Taoiseach Micheál Martin at the Integrated Healthcare Conference, 4 September 2025 CCD

Check against delivery

Good afternoon,

It is a real pleasure for me to deliver the closing remarks at today’s Integrated Healthcare Conference and I thank Bernard for his kind invitation.

I hope you have had an interesting and productive day.

I would like to thank all the speakers for helping us recognise the outstanding achievements of all our health and social care professionals and highlighting the real change and innovation underway across our country.

I know you heard from the Minister for Health this morning.

I wish to reiterate that the Government is fully committed to a vision of a universal health and social care service where people can get the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

Through Sláintecare and implementation of the Programme for Government, we are empowering people to deliver integrated care across the board. Patients, clients and their families should not need to understand our structures to navigate the system.

Their care should, to the greatest extent possible be seamless, irrespective of what different structures and systems may be behind the scenes.

Firstly, we have simplified and strengthened governance at a more local level. We all know the barriers that patients had on occasion in receiving integrated care.

A critical reform has been the establishment of the Health Regions since March 2024, each led by a Regional Executive Officer, who now has full responsibility and accountability for the planning and coordinated delivery of health and social care services for their respective populations.

This serves to both strengthen and streamline the governance of our health system, but more importantly, delivery. Having the same oversight helps to spot the synergies and the gaps in delivery.

It means accountability is clearer and the levers needed to flex the system are available to regional managers so that they can tailor their resources to the local population, bringing decision making closer to the frontline.

There is now one budget per region – spanning both acute and community care – which will be informed by population health need and national priorities and take account of key factors such as demographics, social deprivation and rurality.

Over time, this model will ensure that there is a fairer allocation of resources to the regions, helping to better support regions deliver services that address the needs of their populations.

Secondly, we have ‘powered up’ community provision. The Enhanced Community Care (ECC) Programme seeks to reduce dependency on the hospital system by delivering increased levels of healthcare provision in the community setting, with service delivery reoriented towards general practice, primary care and community-based services.

This ‘home first’ approach to healthcare delivery has expanded significantly since 2020. Integrated care is being enhanced to deliver locally at the appropriate level of complexity, with GPs, Health and Social Care Professionals (HSCPs), Nursing Leadership and staff, empowered at a local level to drive integrated care delivery and supporting the delivery of more care in the community. Working together, it will provide improved access to integrated primary care therapy services, and to consultant-led, multidisciplinary, targeted interventions for older patients and those with long-term conditions, reducing hospital dependence and enabling home and community-based care.

Thirdly, we are looking at how services for specific cohorts are working for them from a patient-client perspective – not what is “easy” for the system.

That means for older people we are planning and funding a different range of services in line with demographic changes and what most people want: to live independently, where possible, and be well supported in safe, high-quality services, whether at home or in residential care.

We have increased investment in home support services for older people from €495 million in 2020 to approximately €840 million in 2025. with increased home support hours, supporting some 60,000 people this year.

The Programme for Government commits to strengthening the nursing home sector by increasing funding for “Fair Deal”. 2025 investment in services included an increase of almost 70 million euro allocated to Fair Deal, which is now funded at over 1.2 billion euro.

It is expected that there will be over 24,000 residents supported by Fair Deal by end of 2025.

This year we will publish our plan for additional public nursing home bed capacity as we committed to in the Programme for Government.

We are regulating home support services by establishing a registration system for providers.

And our national policy on adult safeguarding for the health and social care sector will also be brought to Government shortly.

This Government also remains committed to delivering real and tangible solutions to enhance services to better support people, and particularly children with disabilities in Ireland.

Just yesterday I launched our new National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People and published the work programme of the new Disability Unit that I have established within the Office of the Taoiseach.

The Progressing Disability Services (PDS) Roadmap launched in October 2023, focuses on the ongoing development of Children’s Disability Network Team (CDNT) services to meet current and growing demand.

The Government acknowledges current delays in accessing Assessments of Need and therapy interventions, and work is ongoing by the HSE to maximise the capacity of CDNTs via recruitment campaigns and other measures, including sourcing assessments through private providers.

While recruitment and retention of staff is a challenge across the sector overall, a significant focus of the Government is filling vacant posts within the 93 CDNTs, who are currently providing supports for over 43,000 children.

Not only have we to build capacity, we have to do things differently. We have to innovate, and that is why I was particularly pleased to secure Government agreement for the establishment of a new Education Therapy Service (ETS).

The ETS will be delivered with the National Council for Special Education and will assign therapists to special schools and employ a multi-tiered model of support. The service will commence later in this academic year in some special schools with a phased wider roll-out next year and in subsequent years.

Fundamentally, we have to provide a clearer line of sight for parents – right across Government – on the supports and services for children. And we have to deliver them consistently, no matter where you are and no matter what the setting.

Alongside building capacity, this Government is committed to ensuring ongoing investment in primary care infrastructure by continuing to build modern and accessible Primary Care Centres (PCCs) across the country.

It is a considerable achievement that there are now 180 PCCs in operation, with 51 new centres opened since 2020 and a steady pipeline of PCCs progressing through the planning and construction stages.

As everyone here knows, Primary Care Centres create invaluable opportunities for professionals from across multiple disciplines to work together and to share their knowledge and experience.

We know that integrated care and the multi-disciplinary model leads to better and more accessible health care services – supporting people to stay healthy in their homes and their communities for as long as possible.

Finally, I now want to talk about how we are transforming healthcare with digital technology.

Transformation doesn’t happen by accident. It requires breaking down the silos, both technological and organisational, that have long fragmented our system.

It means investing in the digital infrastructure that allows every clinician, nurse, and healthcare professional to see the full picture of a patient’s health—whether in a hospital, a GP clinic, or a community setting.

Without these foundations, no health system—no matter how well-intentioned—can deliver truly integrated care.

That’s why we are all fully committed to Digital for Care. It’s how we will improve productivity, reduce waiting times, and deliver better outcomes for patients.

Technology is a tool that enables our healthcare professionals more time to do what they do best: care for patients. It can help us deliver health services closer to home to empower our people and give them more control over their own health. And it helps us meet the challenges of a growing, ageing population with smarter, more sustainable solutions.

This Government is committed to continued investment in healthcare infrastructure which supports the highest quality care for our population.

The correct systems and structures are critical to delivery, accountability and, of course, safety.

But for most of the people you serve, they have very little interest in how these nuts and bolts work.

What they are interested in is receiving care provided by practitioners that sees the whole picture, that treats or supports them holistically and that is responsive to their needs.

That is what integrated services is about.

I am particularly pleased to be here this evening to acknowledge and celebrate where we are getting this right, and to acknowledge and pay tribute to all of you on the frontline and throughout our health and social care system who are making it happen.

To all of you, a heartfelt go raibh míle maith agaibh go leir.