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

The point is that if the Taoiseach really wants an honest debate, he should stop trying to suppress organisations in terms of their annual reports and annual service plans. He did not answer the basic question I asked. Why did the Government edit the HSE's drafts of the service plan so heavily? Why did it say that the language was unacceptable and that the HSE was being too negative? The Government wanted to put a gloss and a spin on it to hide the truth from the public. In the weeks running up to Christmas, the Department had grave concern about what the HSE intended to say in the 2018 service plan. It was adamant that details of assumptions which underpin the health budget for 2018 - for example, no provision was being made in the financial figures for up to €68 million in potential pay pressures, or a potential charge of €170 million - would be left out of the publicly released plan and referred to in private correspondence only. The Government wanted to keep stuff private to hide it from the public.

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