The Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar has launched a scathing attack on his fellow government ministers by saying that they spend a huge amount of their time “touring the country and actually not getting down to their desk” and attending Leinster House.
Mr Varadkar made his remarks last night after he faced a string of questioning from Senators in the Seanad in relation to the health service.
It is believed that a number of government ministers advised the health minister Vardakar to visit more HSE facilities across the country.
However, the advise did not seem to impress Mr Vardakar as he quickly responded by saying: “No amount of me travelling around hospitals is actually going to change health policy for the better. “It is useful to do it to see the reality but there are other ministers who spend a huge amount of their time just seeing reality and touring the country and actually not getting down to their desk and being here in parliament.”
Mr Vardakar went onto say: “I want to spend 80% of my time here in parliament, in my department and with the HSE and maybe 20% in my constituency and I think that is probably the right balance.” “It doesn’t mean that I can get around as much as I would like to.”