Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

I will confine my remarks to the motion before the House this evening and will await the personal statement from the Minister later in the House. The Minister was attending a Council meeting in Cyprus last night, and he was entitled and obliged to be there. At that time I argued that the 2012 budget and the health Estimate in particular was aspirational at best or completely dishonest at worst. The recent comments by Mr. Cathal Magee, the chief executive of the HSE, have confirmed these suspicions.

The HSE service plan and budget were overseen and approved by the Minister. At the time the plan was to published, the Minister rejected the first draft. He was effectively referring back a document drafted by his officials and departmental personnel, or, essentially, he was referring it to himself. The Secretary General of the Department sits on the interim board of the HSE and the vast majority of the board is made up of members of the Department of Health.

See this speech in context