Reilly stands over decisions and pays tribute to Shortall

on 27/09/2012 21:00:41

The Health Minister James Reilly has said that he stands over his decision to recommend the building of two primary care centres in his own constituency.

His Junior Minister Roisín Shortall resigned over the issue - claiming there was a lack of transparency in the way in which centres were selected.

But addressing the matter in the Dáil this evening James Reilly said he added the extra centres to the original list drawn up by the HSE using new criteria including GP to population ratio, and accessibility to public transport.

He paid tribute Roisín Shortall for her work in his department but said he stands over his decision to add the extra centres in his constituency.



However Fianna Fail's health spokesman Billy Kelleher said James Reilly had failed to properly explain why he took decisions to benefit his own constituency.