Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

Members on both sides of the House have raised issues of serious concern but the Minister will not be able to address them in the time available. It is clear that the policy pursued by Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats in the past ten years has failed to deliver adequate health services. I would like to say more about this but there is no time to do so.

What action has the Minister taken within her Department to lead reform of the Health Service Executive in light of the Fitzgerald report? What will be the scale of future cutbacks and how will the Minister prioritise the areas in which those cutbacks will occur? Will cutbacks be confined to administration or will they continue to affect frontline services? I urge the Minister to clarify the situation. Members are hearing daily how cutbacks are affecting constituents.