Fine Gael’s health spokesperson, Ms Oliva Mitchell has accused the Government of being delusional by dressing up health cutbacks as "some harmless budgetary adjustments".
In a statement released this afternoon, she accused the Minister for Health, Mr Michael Martin of deluding himself and warned that the public would not be easily fooled following what she described as "real and deep cuts" in the health budget.
"You simply can’t withdraw money from the budgets of the country’s health boards halfway through the year without causing chaos to the delivery of health services to the country’s patients," she said.
"These are real and deep cuts in budgets which will result in real and deep hardship for patients and clients of the health services.," she added. "Minister Martin may choose to delude himself but he is fooling no one else when he protests that his actions will not result in cutbacks."
Speaking on RTÉ Radio this afternoon Mr Martin, said the Government was not demanding the country's Health Boards to cut back in hospital services and dismissed claims that lives were being put at risk.
He said the reductions in spending being sought were marginal in terms of the Boards' overall finances.
