Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

The Minister has sought this cut at the end of the second month of year in which the cut is to be made. Is this the type of health service the Minister, the great swashbuckler, said he would deliver last year? We have seen nothing of what he promised.

Most of the Minister's recent public utterances have been to explain why he is rowing back on promises he made this time last year. He has had to explain why waiting lists are increasing. He has explained why he got rid of the National Treatment Purchase Fund which people could access after three months. He announced a new policy that people will wait no longer than six months for treatment, as if this was a gift he was bearing when it actually means that waiting lists continue to lengthen.

During the general election campaign, the Minister said it would take ten years to implement his policy of universal health insurance. Considering the number of people who have lost insurance in the meantime and considering the progress he has made in the past year, I am sure it will take longer. How long before we hear the Minister say it will take 15 years to do that job? It is time we saw health services protected and the Minister's promises fulfilled.

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