If Reilly over-promised then Varadkar is doing the opposite

Making the case for more funding for his department next year, Health Minister Leo Varadkar said the Irish people would prefer their taxes to be spent in this way rather than going back into their pay packages.

“Like everyone I would like to see income tax reductions in the budget,” he told RTÉ Radio yesterday, but added: “I don’t think people would welcome an increase in take-home pay if it came at the expense of health services.”

His analysis comes with a big IF: Taxpayers probably would not mind making sacrifices to put extra funding into health services. But only if they felt they were getting better value for money and the system was finally sorted out.