Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is as clear as mud.

I do not know if the Minister has visited many of our hospitals or spoken to people who have applied for various social welfare payments and await a response. That represents a significant level of chaos for those concerned. An example of a chaotic situation, which fortunately was resolved, is the mess created by the centralisation of the medical card service to Finglas.

I presume the HSE administration is one of the areas in which excess numbers would be seen. If I picked him up correctly, the Minister stated in an interview prior to Christmas that he will consider using money from the sale of State assets to cover the potential cost of an early retirement scheme or a voluntary redundancy scheme. I understand his statement was specifically directed at the HSE. I ask him to clarify whether this is still part of his plans and if he continues to regard the proceeds from the sale of State assets as potentially creating a fund for financing schemes of this nature. Perhaps I misunderstood him but I do not think I did.