The Health Minister says he's been assured by the Health Service Executive that hospital waiting lists are not being manipulated.
It was reported at the weekend that an internal HSE memo urged staff to rig the statistics, in order to meet targets.
The claim has been denied by the HSE, which says it has no knowledge of the document, insisting no such policy exists.
Leo Varadkar says efforts to make the situation look better than it is are of no use to him, when negotiating for a bigger health budget:
