The €5 billion of spending that Fine Gael is pledging to spend over the next five years is not what it seems, according to Fianna Fáil Health Spokesperson Stephen Donnelly TD.
“What is very clear is that at most, €3.2 billion of this is being provided for new developments in health,” said Deputy Donnelly.
“However, Fine Gael do not go into any real specifics of the cost of the many initiatives they are proposing, especially when they are proposing to extend entitlements.
“When you consider the fact that they are in government with more access to information than any opposition party this seems to be an extraordinary omission.
“Furthermore, they are just making the same promises they broke before. We were previously promised free GP care for everyone by 2016, then we were promised free GP care for under 18’s by 2019. Now they say they would do it by 2025.
“Yet the reality is that Fine Gael are actually reducing health targets in 2020. In Emergency Departments in 2019 there was a target that 75% of all attendees at Emergency Departments be discharged or admitted within six hours of registration – in 2020 the target is 65%. They are also cutting the number of short stay beds down from 1,929 to 1,720. It’s all there in the HSE Service Plan.
“This is the reality of Fine Gael on health. They promise more but deliver less.”