Budget 2021 will see the biggest ever increase in health spending.
The Business Post reports that over €21bn euro will be allocated to health, an increase of €4bn on last year's budget.
Much of it will be for ongoing Covid-19 costs but it will help fund a significant expansion in capacity, including 1,285 new acute beds and extra community and rehabilitation beds.
There will also be a €150m increase in funding for home care packages.
The paper also reports that up to 300 new hospital consultants will be recruited on public only contracts, which is a key recommendation of the Slaintecare plan.
The increase comes as the number of patients being treated in hospital for Covid-19 has passed 200, for the first time since the end of May.
201 are now receiving treatment, after 18 new admissions in the past 24 hours.
At University Hospital Waterford as of 8 o'clock last night, there were three suspected Covid-19 cases.
There were no Covid patients in Critical care at UHW and one critical care bed was available at the hospital.
