Martin deluding himself on cuts say Fine Gael

HEALTH Minister Micheál Martin is deluding himself when he chooses to dress up health cutbacks as harmless budgetary adjustments which will not hurt services, Fine Gael said last night.

FG health spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell said his claims about the harmless nature of the cuts were not fooling anyone: “You simply can’t withdraw money from the budgets of the country’s health boards halfway through the year without causing chaos to the delivery of health services to the country’s patients.” She was responding to the minister’s insistence yesterday that the Government is not demanding the country's health boards to cut back in hospital services.

The minister said difficult choices would have to be made in relation to future taxation, but he insisted that no lives will be put at risk by the freezing of 85 new posts in the Western Health Board.