Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

The Minister is trying to attack a straw man. Does he agree it was the Comptroller and Auditor General who reported that the increase in administrative staff at a rate of 90% dwarfed the increase in frontline staff medical staff which was only 20%? He has drawn the attention of the Oireachtas to this imbalance. Does the Minister agree significant new layers of bureaucracy have been created in the health service? In the Dublin area alone, three new health boards were created which did not deliver improved service. Will the Minister admit any mistakes in regard to the way in which these matters have been handled? Will he admit they have made serious blunders in regard to cost overruns? Will he admit when benchmarking arose, which was a golden opportunity for reform to be brought forward as an issue, the Government paid the money without any reform being negotiated? I will not even deal with waste of the scale of Punchestown.

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