Health Minister Simon Harris’ commitment to use private hospitals to alleviate the critical bed shortage is criticized by lawmakers. “Sinn Féin health spokesman Louise O'Reilly was critical of what she said was privatization of public healthcare. ‘This is a poor reflection on the government and in particular Simon Harris,’ she said. ‘This Fine Gael-led government allowed the crisis in our health sector to reach unprecedented levels and now it seems even more funding will be diverted into the private sector, away from the public sector. Mr. Harris needs to provide us with full details of how much this is costing and what services in the public health service will be cut back to pay for this. It is vital that patients are seen and treated but this should be happening in the public service.’”