Health cuts - Reilly goes on offensive

When you are on the defensive, go on the offensive.

That appears to be the tactic employed by Health Minister James Reilly to calls for his resignation from Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.

Dr Reilly has been under political pressure after it emerged that the departments of An Taoiseach and Public Expenditure & Reform will have oversight over plans to cut €666m from the health budget next year. He said it was “a bit rich” of Mr Martin to call for his resignation given his own record in the department.

Yet, Mr Martin’s argument has merit. He is correct in pointing out that imposing cuts as planned to the health budget will cause untold damage.

Fine Gael backbench TD Simon Harris said Dr Reilly has the full confidence of his Cabinet colleagues and of the Fine Gael parliamentary party. That may change if the health cuts cause widespread misery.