David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The people are fair minded. They have given the Government a fair wind and given all the Ministers a fair chance. However, my patience and that of many people in the Oireachtas and among the public has been tested by the Minister for Health and by his mishandling of his portfolio. He has become a liability for the Government and for the people. It is not just that the people of Navan, Roscommon, Thurles and Waterford have had, or may have, damage done to their hospitals. The Minister has been caught out in the act of stroke politics. Not only has he been caught out. He was brazen enough to say that if he had the opportunity he would do the same again. That is unacceptable

Both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin have called on the Minister to resign. If a Minister does not resign, however, but brazens it out, as this Minister seems to be doing, there is a responsibility on the leader of the country, the Taoiseach, to act. The Government promised an end to stroke politics, better politics and something different from what we got before. If we are to have something different from what we got before it is very clear that the Minister must go. It is the responsibility of the Taoiseach to ensure that he goes and is replaced by a Minister who will do the job properly and fairly. That is what the people of this State deserve.