Reilly: €108m health cut impossible

The Government’s final austerity budget is facing a major crisis halfway after Health Minister James Reilly said his department cannot achieve a fifth of its planned savings.

For the second day, he said it is not possible for the health service to achieve €108m of its €619m cuts — echoing concerns he aired last autumn.

Speaking at the launch of a multimillion-euro development at the Mater Hospital in Dublin, Dr Reilly said the system is attempting to meet all cabinet targets.

However, he said almost a fifth of health’s total cutback figure, which since December has been labelled “unspecified savings”, are “clearly beyond” the service — meaning the money will have to be found from another part of Government.

The comment came after Dr Reilly told reporters in Killarney on Monday the significant €108m figure is “not available in the manner originally perceived”.

The issue means there is a major hole in the Government’s 2014 finances. The plan has previously been described by Finance Minister Michael Noonan as the State’s last austerity budget.

However, Department of Health concerns over the figure — and other demands on the health budget — have been repeatedly raised since the cutback targets were first mooted last year. As previously reported by the Irish Examiner, in the days before the budget, Dr Reilly and Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin were involved in a private row over the amount of cuts health could take.

After intervention by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, it was agreed that the service would make €666m in cuts this year, including €113m as part of a medical card “probity” plan. Following delays due to private concern from senior HSE officials over the demands, the €666m figure was reduced to €619m, with the €113m medical cards target dropped to €23m.

However, despite the internal negotiations when the HSE’s service plan was published in December, it included a number of gaps. Among the key issues in the document was the €108m “unspecified savings” target which, six months later, Dr Reilly has insisted cannot be achieved.

A further €290m was also earmarked to come from Haddington Road reforms. However, a recent PA Consulting report for the Department of Health has shown just €212m of this sum is achievable.

The latter point resulted in revelations in recent days that key hospital roles will be filled by interns and newly graduated nurses to make up the €78m difference, a move nurses and patients’ groups have said puts lives at risk.