Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will take 30 seconds to make a second point on budget reform. When the Government announces its spending caps, it should be announcing targets and saying what aspects of the expenditure of individual Departments worked and did not work in the last term. It is wrong that there is no impact assessment. The waiting lists for scans are ridiculous. I will finish on this point. A young woman told me the other day that when she went to the orthopaedic department at Merlin Park Hospital for a scan on her shoulder, the surgeon told her that he could do it immediately if she paid €200 and that otherwise she would have to wait eight months. I ask the Minister of State not to tell me that the Government is doing impact assessments. It is going to be giving out the same money to health again this year without seeing what is working and what is not working. This is why I am annoyed that my Bill on budget reform was not brought onto the floor of the House. I am not concerned about myself, but about better spending of taxpayers' money. I ask the Government to stick with priorities, rather than populism.