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

We consistently get the history lesson but the Minister does not live in the real world when it comes the budgetary estimate process. Year on year, as I stated, we face a situation where the Minister presents a flawed budget to the House. That has happened over the past three years. I see no reason this year's budget was presented in any different way because it includes unspecified savings of €108 million.

In October last, the Minister went to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Minister for Finance to look for €1 billion extra and he walked out of the room with €666 million less.

That is what happened last year. It is not that I have a difficulty with credibility. The issue is the Minister's credibility with his Cabinet colleagues in the delivery of sufficient funding to provide a budget that will sustain health services. That is what we are talking about. In terms of a history lesson of what happened in the past ten or 12 years, people want to know what is happening this year in the health service.

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