Shortall supports Reilly — but only after criticising his lack of reforms

Labour’s Róisín Shortall has issued a thinly-veiled rebuke of Health Minister James Reilly for the lack of reform in the health service.

Ms Shortall, the junior minister at the department, failed to say a word in support of her Fine Gael colleague during a Dáil debate on his performance.

Instead, she warned that the poor would be the “hardest hit” by cuts unless there was substantial reform in the health service.