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

In the aftermath of drilling down, the Minister has accepted that €130 million in savings could not have been achieved on the probity side in the absence of the wholesale withdrawal of medical cards from swathes of vulnerable people. Now he is clapping himself on the back for reducing that figure. Either way, he must accept that from the beginning of 2014 he will be implementing cuts which will have a detrimental impact on front-line services and that a Supplementary Estimate will have to be introduced as some point. He is aware of that fact, even before 2014 begins.

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