Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The question I asked the Taoiseach was whether he believes the cuts in front line services are putting people's lives at risk. He did not answer that question. I have here evidence from the chairman of the Medical Council in the mid-west, who says that if the cutbacks are implemented in the way the Minister is talking about, cases of cancer will not be diagnosed, cancer patients will not be treated and people's lives will be put at risk. It is five years since the Taoiseach said the PPARS scandal would be the last in the HSE. He has turned a blind eye to the back-office bureaucracy, with the number of grade VIII managers jumping from six to more than 700. He has turned a blind eye to the advice of the former chief executive, Professor Brendan Drumm, who said last July that HSE bureaucracy should be cut by 30%. He has turned a blind eye to the €100 million spent on consultants' reports that are lying on shelves with nothing being done about them. A blind eye was turned to the €121 million that the HSE spent on taxis over four years. These were either mass missions of mercy or an indication that public money met Wall Street, where money never sleeps.

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