Labour ‘frustrated’ at budget overruns in health department

Labour is growing increasingly unhappy with the performance of Health Minister James Reilly amid budget overruns in his department and his failure to tackle consultants’ pay.

The party is particularly unhappy that the Fine Gael minister sees cuts in the overtime and allowances of HSE staff as part of the solution to the overruns, rather than reducing consultants’ pay.

The HSE is already running about €200m over budget and there are concerns it could reach €500m by the end of the year if not tackled properly now.