James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)

I would like to point out to the Minister that 75% of the increased funding went on wage increases approved by her Government, through benchmarking and social partnership. I asked the Minister how many patients would be and have been operated on through the NTPF and I have not been told. The waiting list for scoliosis surgery is much longer than the Minister has indicated. She is just talking about the cancelled cases. It is not good enough for the Minister to say she has a gut feeling about catering and four of this and four of that, etc. We were told that with the HSE when ten health boards were amalgamated and the shared services unit. All we got was a mess. Has a cost-benefit analysis been done to justify the Minister's figure of €20 million?

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