Health and its attendant costs is the subject of considerable attention in public policy across the world. The provision of healthcare and who pays animates political discussion almost everywhere.
After the social protection budget, health is the single largest component of public expenditure in the Republic of Ireland. Like most areas of government spending, however, health care expenditure has been reduced substantially in the aftermath of the Financial Crisis and subsequent austerity period, reversing the trend of increases up to 2008/2009. This Research in Brief seeks to offer a broad outline of recent trends in expenditure on health.