Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Of course, the Minister has probably ensured there is nothing on file that can come under freedom of information for the coming year. We do know from the Government’s figures that there is a black hole of €460 million in the health Estimates. The Minister claims the specific figures will be provided later in the Revised Estimates. We need to know today what is happening for next year, not in a couple of months time. The Minister failed to grapple with the black hole in the health budget with the former Minister. The new Minister for Health has got the best of the Minister as well. We will be back in here next year with a Supplementary Estimate for health, like we have done with every other budget the Government has introduced. Not one health Estimate that has stood the test of 12 months has been brought in since the Minister came into office. Next July, we will hear again about an overrun in the health budget.

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