Budget 2020 will do "absolutely nothing" to solve the problems faced by patients and front line staff in the health service, a former Mayor of Galway city has said.
Labour Galway City West councillor, Niall McNelis, has criticised the health spending measures announced by the Finance Minister, Paschal Donohue, in the Budget on Tuesday.
Calling it a "sham Budget for health", he said it will not end the recruitment ban in hospitals. “There are many unfilled nursing posts in University Hospital Galway alone, the hospital with one of the highest trolley counts today," he said. "Staff in hospitals across Galway are over-stretched and stressed because of the recruitment ban the Government continues to deny exists."
He accused Fine Gael of "squirrelling away" an extra €200 million of capital for the National Children’s Hospital and national Broadband Plan to cover up cost overruns. He also said the extra €25 million for the National Treatment Purchase Fund means €100 million will be spent buying private healthcare next year, with no real measures brought in to "tackle the crippling waiting lists".
