Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The logic of getting rid of the NTPF was twofold. First, it was self-selecting in that people went to it themselves if they were waiting for a period and, second, it never managed to get rid of long waiting lists or waiting times. Instead, the resource was given to the special delivery unit, SDU, which then selected the patients who were waiting the longest and focused on them.

For the past 17 to 18 months the Deputy has taken pleasure in describing me as an analyst or commentator rather than an actor, which of course I dispute given the amount of things that have been done in the past 18 months in the health area.

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