NO ‘HAPPY ANNIVERSARY’ TO LEO

THE Taoiseach’s first anniversary in power yesterday was marked by sharp criticism from the Opposition. Fianna Fáil said the rapid increase in hospital waiting lists took off during Leo Varadkar’s time in the Department of Health

Half a million people are now stuck on waiting lists, said the party’s spokesman Stephen Donnelly TD, who described this as a record and ‘truly extraordinary’ figure. ‘Things have gotten so bad that it’s beginning to make James Reilly’s tenure look like a golden age,’ he declared.

Sinn Féin agreed, with the party’s mental health spokesman Pat Buckley TD saying the ‘failing, inadequate service’ described by patients and staff was ‘a damning indictment of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s first year in power’.

Mr Buckley said: ‘Leo Varadkar has continued to preside over a failing mental health service, which is not meeting the needs of patients.

‘In recent months we have heard of the long waiting lists for treatment, the shortage of beds and staff in child and adolescent services, and the toll it is taking on young lives,’ he said.

But Mr Varadkar, speaking before he left on a trip to Spain yesterday, insisted his Government had performed well in his first year in charge,

‘The important milestones are what is achieved. [The] Government has brought employment to record levels, balanced the books, improved living standards and reduced inequality,’ he said.