Health Minister Rejects Claim His Dept 'cooked The Books' On It's Budget

Health minister rejects claim his dept 'cooked the books' on it's budget

The Health Minister says it is "not true" that the government "cooked the books" over the budget of his department last year. Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin made the allegation at his party's think-in in Roscommon yesterday, accusing the government of misleading the Dáil and putting patients' lives at risk. His comments follow reports that the head of the HSE warned the government about the effects of further cutbacks to the health service. Minister Leo Varadkar says that is not the case - and patient safety has always been a priority for his department. "It's just not true - like obviously I wasn't involved in the detailed discussions about the health estimates last year - but I was involved after the point that it reached Cabinet" he said. "And I know at that time and at that point the concerns of the director-general of the health service were taken into account, and the HSE's service plan was modified - and more money was found for it, in order to make sure that it was safe" he added.