Current management of health service a shambles, says Martin

James Reilly has been accused of being a volatile health minister amid claims that the head of the HSE was forced out.

The appointment of new HSE directors would lead to new “layers of bureaucracy” in the health service which would reduce care for patients, opposition politicians argued.

As a row erupted in the Dáil over HSE chief Cathal Magee’s decision to step down, which junior minister Róisín Shortall only learned of through the media, Enda Kenny defended his minister.