Coalition ‘squandering’ billions of taxpayers’ cash

THE opposition launched a scathing attack on the Government yesterday for “squandering” billions of taxpayers’ money on health, transport and crime detection over the past five years.

The health budget has more than doubled to almost €10 billion in that period, but there has only been a 25% increase in the number of patients treated in hospitals, according to a Fine Gael survey.

Only 584 new acute hospital beds have been provided in the past five years despite over €5 billion being spent on the service. And the cost of treating a patient in hospital has also rocketed by 81% up from €5,112 in 1998 to €9,249 last year, according to the survey.