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

The Minister said his first aim was to draw up a realistic budget in the context of last year's Estimates and on the basis of negotiations with his Cabinet colleagues, the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. Already, however, on 24 February, it is clear we do not have a realistic budget. The Minister repeatedly tells us things will get worse before they get better, which is an obvious statement of fact. We have huge problems with overcrowding in emergency departments throughout the country and a consistent problem with delayed discharges. We can already see that the fair deal funding for this year is wholly inadequate. We knew that already because Mr. Tony O'Brien, director general of the Health Service Executive, told us so at a recent Oireachtas committee hearing. The Minister must give his colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, additional funding for that scheme. The money must be found somewhere.

Pretending we have a realistic budget will not do. It is entirely unrealistic to claim the services can be delivered on the basis of the funding the Minister has set out. We are already, at this early stage in the year, in a situation where the health services are beginning to dismantle before our eyes.

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