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

I wish the Ceann Comhairle and those in his office and every Member of the House a happy and peaceful Christmas. I also thank the staff of all political parties, as well as the staff of the Houses for keeping this institution going and working on behalf of the people.

The Ceann Comhairle spoke about vandalism. The HSE service plan was published this week and it certainly was an act of vandalism in the sense that it was announced that there would be a service plan, but clearly it is a plan to reduce services on a massive scale in 2014. This is clear when one considers the number of hospital procedures that have had to be cancelled, the fact that BreakCheck will not be rolled out for women between the ages of 65 and 69 years, a move which will affect more that 80,000 women, and that, within the plan, the HSE has had the audacity to include a figure of €108 million to be realised at some stage in the future without any identification of from where these savings will come. We are being asked to consider a health service plan that clearly is incapable of delivering services in 2014.

The Minister for Finance and others walked in here on 15 October and published the Estimates which did not even stand up to scrutiny between the time of their publication and the publication of HSE service plan. Within that time it was found that the savings from medical card probity measures of €113 million were a figment of somebody's imagination in government. Will the Minister agree that the HSE service plan for 2014, even before it commences on 1 January, will simply not be able to sustain any credible form of health service in the year ahead? I have pointed to procedure and Breastcheck cancellations, the provision of fewer medical cards and a massive reduction in front-line staff, all these key issues which will put huge pressure on the HSE's ability to deliver health care.

In the context of publication of the Estimates, we were informed last week by the Minister of Health that the underlying deficit was €199 million. We now find in the HSE service plan that it is €490 million. Will the Minister agree two things? First, did the Minister for Health mislead the House in the context of the underlying deficit and, second, will the Government at least do a U-turn in the rollout of BreastCheck?

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