Hospitals have to stick to their budgets – the message from the Health Minister after Crumlin warned it could run out of cash in the next six months.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors at the hospital, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, says services at the hospital will have to be cut and some operations will be cancelled.

Martin has written to the Minister and the head of the HSE about his concerns – but James Reilly says all hospitals must stick to the budgets they agreed to.

Reilly said: “They must adhere to them. The days of crying help at the end of the year and putting their hand out are over. We don’t have the money.

“Our taxpayers, our children in this hospital and patients right throughout the country have an entitlement to expect that those budgets will be adhered to and those budgets will be delivered.”

The Minister was visiting the hospital this afternoon to open a new intensive care unit.