Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

At a recent meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts the chief executive officer of the Health Service Executive admitted that it was facing a potential deficit of €500 million if corrective action were not taken. He stated that to break even there would be a significant impact on services for the remainder of the year. He added that the assumptions on which the HSE's 2012 service plan had been based were no longer valid. According to Deputy Deasy who received an off-the-record reaction from the CEO, the HSE would have to close wards, beds and, possibly, hospitals. There are hospital managers who are at the end of their tether and genuinely worried about the budgetary position, given the cuts already made to their allocations and their inability to make ends meet. What is emerging clearly is that the health Estimate for 2012 was not an honest one. The CEO makes the point that in the plan which the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, oversaw and approved the assumption was that there would be a saving of €124 million in drug payments via a new pricing agreement with the industry but "That has not come through." The assumption was there would be additional income of €140 million, of which €75 million would come from charging private patients in public beds, but "That assumption is not yet deliverable." Reducing agency costs by 50% was a further target. Given that agency staff will cost €200 million this year, the CEO is now saying the 50% target was never realistic.

The failure to implement health measures announced in the budget in December is one matter, but it now seems clear that the figures were never achievable and what the Government, the Minister in particular, stands accused of, in essence, is that the books were cooked to give a false and dishonest health Estimate. That is why on 8 June the Minister lashed out at workers in the health service, stating he wanted allowances, premium payments and everything else cut all of sudden and that people needed to get their act together. The reality is he did not get his act together at the time of the budget, in that false figures that were completely unachievable were included in the health Estimate and now we are facing the prospect of ward and bed closures because of the failings of the Minister and the Government in this respect.

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