Mr. Robert Watt:

I thank the Deputy for his initial comments. The Haddington Road agreement negotiations were tortuous. Ms Buckley, Mr. Reid and others were involved for many months, nights and weekends. It is a complex agreement, but we are happy with it. It addressed some of the concerns we had with the original agreement. It reflects the fiscal imperative to further reduce spending in a fair and progressive way. People can discuss that issue because these notions can be subjective. We said we would have the agreement in place by 1 July and we achieved this. We set out targets and our colleagues in the HSE and the Department of Health were with us all the way. This was not something Ms Buckley and Mr. Reid did on their own. They did it with the sectoral managers across the system. We are happy with the agreement in the health service which has the measures that needed to be included. We are happy that the negotiators from the HSE and the Department of Health were excellent in working with us in developing the agreement. My Minister, the Minister for Health and the Government expect it to be implemented. It is my job and the job of managers to do this and we will ensure it will happen.

This fundamental issue is about management and leadership. People have a responsibility to deliver and we will work with them to ensure that happens. We set out an agreement and there might be slippage here and there. We may have overestimated some of the savings or it may be more difficult to introduce a reform. We know that we are dealing with uncertainty and that there are unknowns; therefore, we are happy to work with our colleagues, but it is important that people in leadership positions do not in any way suggest there are easy options, that there is an easy way our or that we signed up to an agreement and will not implement it. The Government and management are committed to this and we need to do it. It is a key job for us to ensure it will happen. Obviously, the committee has a role in terms of oversight to ensure we meet the targets and pay allocations. In summary, we expect people to implement and deliver what they have signed up to.