Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome today's announcement regarding jobs in the Kerry Group. Cuirim fáilte roimh an scéal maith sin. Ach thar an deireadh seachtaine cinntíodh go raibh eolas ag an Taoiseach féin, agus ag an Tánaiste, faoi na hionaid sláinte a roghnaigh an t-Aire Sláinte, an Teachta James Reilly. Sin scéal an-dona.

The Taoiseach promised transparency and openness, but for the last three weeks Deputy Ó Caoláin and I, along with others in Sinn Féin, have been trying to find out the criteria for the Government's decision to put two primary health care centres in the constituency of the Minister for Health. Why has the Government refused to publish the criteria? Do citizens and the Dáil not have a right to this information?

At the end of the summer the plan to cut personal assistant services for citizens with disabilities was thwarted by these brave people and their supporters, but today the Government is considering whether to end disability allowance payments to those younger than 18 years of age. It is also cutting home help services by €8 million. These are the political choices the Government is making. It is taking crucial resources from vulnerable sectors and punishing families on low and middle incomes by saddling them with debts they did not create, even while it is giving €64 billion to the banks without transparency. Will the Taoiseach publish the criteria for the primary health care centre locations, and will he state clearly that young people will not be penalised in December's budget?

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