Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

The Minister must give a commitment in the House this evening that there will be no diminution of services to the public to address the Minister's failure to oversee his budget. That is the purpose of this debate. We can talk about abstract figures but there are two choices facing the Minister. We are in July and the budget deficit is running out of control. We have yet to see any form of legislation required as a consequence of the 2012 budget to effect the savings highlighted at the time. We are talking about savings in 2012 of €543 million, with most of this requiring legislative changes. We have not seen the heads of Bills or the actual Bills.

We are in July and the next opportunity to bring forward legislation will be September or October. The Minister may say he can work miracles and believe he has amazing capabilities; he might have much confidence in his own ability. Nevertheless, I assure the Minister that services will be affected and he will rob Peter to pay Paul with issues like mental health and disability services. All the crocodile tears from the other side of the House will be in vain because there will be no ring-fencing. Money will be taken from the budget to shore up what has been an abject failure in management.

As the Minister noted, "the year ahead represents a huge challenge but also a great opportunity to change the way we work so we can deliver the health care we all desire for our citizens." I concur with the statement but the only problem is that the Minister has not stepped up to the challenge. He certainly has not grasped any opportunity because in the seventh month of 2012, the budget is in chaos. That has been admitted to by those at the top of the HSE, unless the Minister is to dismiss the remarks of Mr. Magee at the committee which he and I attended.

We are calling for the Minister to state clearly-----

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