Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There are so many competing issues going on. For instance, we all know we need budgets throughout the country for hospital prevention measures. The HSE has been excellent in my country, producing an elderly care unit in Thurles, which is fantastic and fair play to them, to analyse those who are elderly and to prevent them ending up in hospital in the first place. I encourage more of that throughout Ireland. For mental services, in fairness, the Minister of State is battling for a capital budget to renovate the unit in Clonmel or to secure another location. That is the type of information we need to know straight up. If the children's hospital needs to be reprofiled, given the massive budget there will be, let us just say it. Sometimes the Government just has to make decisions and sometimes we in opposition have to be honest and accept that. Let us just say out straight that budgets will need to be diverted, if needs be.

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