Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second Senator Leyden's amendment.

I also propose an amendment to the Order of Business, that the Minister for Health come to the House today to give an explanation as to the current budget deficit in his Department and the budget for the year ahead. The level of uncertainty is unacceptable. Last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I mentioned in the House that it was difficult to see €666 million as the figure for savings and in all likelihood it would be €1 billion. This was picked up in the national media over the weekend and we have since called for the Minister's resignation. There have been umpteen calls over the years for his resignation because of his headless chicken approach to managing our health service. In the past number of days, it has been suggested in the media that a secret meeting took place in advance of the budget during which the Minister sought an additional €1 billion, which did not include the €666 million in proposed savings or the budget deficit. In his Department in a €2 billion hole?

Let us look at this from a business perspective. Intel is similar to the HSE in size with 104,000 employees and €14 billion in income. If the chief executive officer of Intel said, "I don't know how far out of budget I am this year. I think I need €1 billion. My accountants think I have to save an additional €1 billion next year", what would the company's shareholders think? Would they think they have an incompetent on their hands?