Reilly branded as ‘bizarre’ over his ‘it wasn’t me’ defence of cuts

Embattled Health Minister James Reilly was last night accused of desperately trying to duck the blame for his embarrassing cuts climbdown.

As controversy continued to rage over revelations in the Medical Independent that he signed off on paying six outside advisers more than €21,000 each for just six weeks’ work, opposition parties branded the minister “bizarre”.

Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher ridiculed Dr Reilly’s refusal to admit that he had performed a U-turn over planned cuts to disability funds despite the Taoiseach acknowledging the move as a “reverse”.