Brendan Howlin's comments came after Health Minister Leo Varadkar sought no cut in the health budget in 2015, which would be an effective increase because of over-runs of 500 million euro this year.
Speaking at the Labour Party 'think-in' in Wexford, Minister Howlin admitted the budget problems in health are not unique to Ireland.
“We need to obviously make decisions that we can afford” he said.
“There are health issues in every single country – last week I had discussions with my French counterpart, and they have exactly the same issues to address” he added.
