06/11/2015

Minister 'Threatens' To Outsource Failing Hospitals To The Private Sector

Fianna Fáil has hit out at the Health Minister after he "threatened" to outsource underperforming hospitals to the private sector.

Health spokesperson, Billy Kelleher, accused Minister Varadkar of making an "appalling speech" in which he raised spectre of autonomous hospital groups behaving like commercial semi-state companies.

He said: "It is an extraordinary agenda that even Mrs Thatcher would not have dared to advance. It is the type of policy you would expect from the Tea Party Freedom Caucus of the US Republican Party.

"It is a fundamental undermining of the public health system and it shows clearly what Fine Gael really has in store for the country if it is returned to power next year. Meanwhile, the Labour Party remains completely mute. Perhaps at some stage the Tánaiste will find a voice and let us know what she thinks of her Government's plan to privatise health."

(CD/LM)

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