The Health Minister Leo Varadkar says he does not mind being slapped down by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny because he is a big boy.

It has also been revealed that Finance Minister Michael Noonan spoke to Mr Varadkar for putting specifics out about the budget.

Earlier this week, Mr Varadkar speculated that people could be a €5 or €10 better off after tax changes in the budget.

That led to two days of Mr Kenny effectively smacking him down in public for the comments.

And this afternoon Finance Minister Michael Noonan revealed how unhappy he was.

But the Mr Varadkar was not too worried about such public scolding.

Mr Varadkar insisted though it is not about his dignity or ego - but about frontline staff, patients and health services.

Earlier, Mr Kenny told Newstalk that Mr Varadkar is "quite entitled to reflect on the challenges he faces."

He says it is not the case that Mr Varadkar was 'slapped down' over his comments.

"What annoyed me was the fact that when a new Minister goes over to the department, that they'd obviously been preparing for his arrival - and presented him with a document of what I understand was something like 300 pages, indicating what you cannot do" he said.

"Government is about making decisions, about making changes that impact on peoples' lives and the country for their betterment - and what we have to do in the health area is to move to what government policy is" he added.