Martin suffering from amnesia – Varadkar

Health Minister and Fine Gael candidate in Dublin West Leo Varadkar has said that Micheal Martin seems to be suffering from amnesia.

“Deputy Martin is pinning his hopes on an outbreak of collective amnesia. My prescription is take a large pinch of salt with everything Micheal says, remember that his ministerial record was a disaster, and that he cannot be trusted to keep the recovery going: 

·          Micheal Martin as Minister for Health: created the HSE and ramped up spending on health without producing results

·          Micheal Martin as Minister for Enterprise: destroyed our competitiveness, leading to the loss of 300,000 jobs

·          Micheal Martin was Minister for Foreign Affairs when the Troika arrived and allowed Ireland to be humiliated on the international stage

“His latest claim is that the health service was busier under Fianna Fáil than it is now. That’s rubbish. The number of surgical day cases are 76% higher now than when he was health minister, 112% more day cases are being seen, inpatient discharges are 12% higher, almost 40% of people now have a medical card compared to 28%, and the number of emergency ambulance calls are higher than ever.

“Fianna Fáil and Micheal Martin talk about fairness but we won’t be fooled. He sat at the Cabinet table when his Government:

·          Introduced a €1 per hour cut to the minimum wage

·          Abolished the Christmas bonus, shut Templemore, closed 1,200 hospital beds

·          Introduced a €16 cut in weekly welfare payments for carers, the disabled and the ill

·          Voted to slash the social housing budget from €419m in 2010, to €140m in 2011 (we have restored it to €376m this year)

“Fianna Fáil and their leader would ruin the recovery and simply cannot be trusted with the economy:

·          He denied the bail-out was coming, two months before the Troika arrived

·          He voted against VAT cut on tourism that created 30,000 jobs

·          He voted against USC cuts for middle income earners

·          He voted against tax equalisation for the self-employed

“ Fine Gael’s promise is to give our people the solid foundation on which they can build their lives. We have a Long Term Economic Plan to Keep the Recovery Going, allocating €4 billion to a Future Jobs Fund and we plan to add 200,000 new jobs. And make no mistake; if we have no new jobs, there is no recovery and no investment in new services.   It’s as simple as that. Fianna Fail however has no jobs plan and are offering nothing.

“Fine Gael’s manifesto is the most prudent of all the parties. We are the only party that has set aside €2.5 billion for a contingency. More importantly, we are the only party with a strong record of bringing the economy back from the brink and a long term economic plan to make sure we don’t fall backwards.”