Mr. Fergal Goodman:

To be clear, the proposals that came forward from the HSE had already been discussed and essentially agreed with officials of the Department of Health. In other words, it was a type of interim process. To simplify and make life easier for everyone it was better that the HSE was not doing a great number of things we then had to query and challenge but that we were in on the discussion. That was part of an internal discussion which then led to the putting of clear and agreed proposals to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.