Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wanted to get those figures so I could understand the most up-to-date components of it. Digging behind each of those figures, page 20 of the report includes information on primary care reimbursements, which we touched upon. One of the points made in respect of the increased demand for services, and I believe Mr. O'Brien touched on this point as well, is that a big chunk of the increase in the issuing of medical cards was clearing the backlog that had built up across the second half of last year. That was cleared during the first half of this year. Given that those applications were in the system but had not been processed, should it have been assumed that this deficit was going to occur because the HSE had received all the applications and they simply had not been processed?