Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach knows that. That is why he got rid of Deputy Reilly as Minister for Health. The thing was a mess. It was in tatters. All I said at the outset was that the number of adults waiting for more than eight months went from 1,700 to 9,693 in adult inpatients alone. That was the target the Government imposed, although the original target was six months and the NTPF was meeting it the Government got rid of it. The same applies to children, 37% are waiting longer than the target the Government set. The real reason for that is the Government starved the Department of Health last year and brought in a false budget. I am not allowed to use the words “a lie” here but a lot of porkies about the health budget were told to Deputies 12 months ago. That is why hospitals whose budgets were cut by €200 million could not meet the impossible targets the Government set them because it starved them of funds. The Government mismanaged the consultant situation with the result that there is a serious number of vacancies across the country, in the Mater, Tallaght and elsewhere because of the mess it made of the appointments. In the health service plan the Government has just approved will that €200 million taken from acute hospital budgets last year be restored? Yes or no?

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