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James Reilly Niall Carson/PA Archive/Press Association Images

'Cum spiro, spero': Reilly hopes there won't be an overrun in the health budget

The Health Minister probably meant ‘dum spiro, spero’…

HEALTH MINISTER JAMES Reilly quoted a Latin motto to express his hope that there will not be another overrun in the health budget for this year despite expectations that this will be the case.

Amid reports that the health budget could overrun by as much as €100 million this year, Reilly said there were increased pressures on services and changes in demand which had been one per cent more than expected this year.

“I am saying: ‘cum spiro, spero’. Like our good friends the Romans used to say: ‘where’s there’s life, there’s hope’ and we’ll keep working until the last minute to make it happen,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

The Health Minister probably meant ‘dum spiro, spero’ which translates from Latin as ‘while I breathe, I hope’, a motto that is paraphrased from the writings of Roman philosopher Cicero.

He said that the reports of an overrun had to taken in the context of €3 billion being taken out of the health budget in the “last several years”, a population increase and a rise in emergency admissions.

“We are demand led service, we are given a finite sum of money, we get an increased demand, it’s very difficult to square that circle,” Reilly said.

Not giving up the fight

He  added that he had has not “given up the fight and neither has the HSE” on keeping the budget under control for this year.

On the same programme, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said that “James has done a sterling job” and according to figures at the end of September was “right on the button” in terms of his budget.

Meanwhile, Reilly also confirmed plans to bring the heads of a Bill to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes to the Oireachtas Health Committee later this month where he said he will be happy to hear submissions from tobaccos companies.

But he expressed determination to to introduce plain packaging, adding: “I think it is critically important that we denormalise smoking.”

Reilly said that he has the “100 per cent” backing of Enda Kenny when asked about recent reports that the Taoiseach has been lobbied by tobacco companies.

Read: Reilly wants Ireland tobacco-free by 2025

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62 Comments
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    Mute Paul Doyle
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:47 PM

    Please no one start with that 2016 crap… he’s 88 nanna was 96, Leonard coen was 79 or something… death happens get over it…

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    Mute KM TON
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:49 PM

    Two late Paul! Two late! If i die between now and Sunday, i ask of my loved ones, PLEASE PLEASE do not say ‘ God damn 2016′. I’m begging you!

    28
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    Mute Paul Doyle
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:54 PM

    In 2 years time twink or some sh## will be hit by a 2016 Scania truck n people be like “2016 was just so cruel to the celebrity’s”

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    Mute Nucky
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:57 PM

    No n people be more like shut up ya sap….

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    Mute O Swetenham
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    Dec 28th 2016, 2:20 PM

    You guys are too cool for school.

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    Mute Mike Cantwell
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:45 PM

    RIP Anthony, I loved Dead As Doornails

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    Mute Brian Mulligan
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    Dec 28th 2016, 2:23 PM

    Do you remember the year when no one died, mad so it was….

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    Mute Micheal OLainn
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:54 PM

    Anthony Cronin leaves behind him a great legacy of wonderful writing that will endure long after his desth.

    I would be disturbed if no talented people were to die. We are all human. Some of us die sooner than others but we all die, even the most talented and gifted of us.

    We notice the death of talented people more because they are in the public eye and can even be a backdrop to our lives but they, like us, are not immportal.

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    Mute Shano
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    Dec 28th 2016, 1:55 PM

    Roll on 2017 when no celebrities will die at all.

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    Mute Joe Geoghegan
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    Dec 28th 2016, 1:13 PM

    One of Ireland’s great intellectuals.

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    Mute Anthony John Cotter
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    Dec 28th 2016, 1:29 PM

    Dead as Doornails is a classic, he was always worth listening to in interviews with the incredible company he kept.

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    Mute Diarmuid Lucey
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:46 PM

    Who’s next? 2016 has not been a good year!

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    Mute Fox in the Box
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    Dec 28th 2016, 12:47 PM

    @Diarmuid Lucey:

    What an original comment

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    Mute Peter Martin
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    Dec 28th 2016, 3:26 PM

    Met him back about 20 years ago. A very nice man. Condolences to his wife and daughter.

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    Mute Paul Devlin
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    Dec 28th 2016, 4:04 PM

    RIP. Dead as Doornails is a classic. When people talk about the good old days, get them to read it

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    Mute Eye_c_u
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    Dec 28th 2016, 2:40 PM

    Curse of 2016 strikes again

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    Mute Christopher Gardiner
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    Dec 28th 2016, 3:23 PM

    Who is he?

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    Mute Eric Bobrie
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    Dec 28th 2016, 10:45 PM

    French académicien Michel Deon Who lives in Conemarra is dead too. Bad Day for littérature

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    Mute Louise Brierley
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    Dec 29th 2016, 1:47 AM

    ” Dead as Doornails “is a classic, excellent read, but rather dated and somewhat indecipherable today to people not necessarily in tune with 50s/60s Dublin Bohemia.

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