Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I asked the Minister at a committee meeting in June when the chief executive officer and senior HSE officials were present who was in charge of the budget and, with great gusto, he rolled up his sleeves and said, "I am in charge; I am responsible and I accept full responsibility for every decision that the HSE makes". However, a few days ago, senior HSE officials were wheeled out to give the bad news. The Minister is removing himself from positions of responsibility. He went AWOL for a number of days until he was eventually flushed out and had to make the U-turn and we witnessed what happened after that. It was described by the Taoiseach as a courageous, brave decision. The Minister made a lousy, mean decision in the first place in the context of attacking the most vulnerable people in our society.

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