Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I accept much of what the Minister had to say and I welcome the fact he stated very clearly we can go no further as it is beyond any serious contemplation that the health services could take further cuts. My concern is that section 10(b)(3)(a) provides that if the amount of net expenditure incurred by the executive in a financial year is greater than the amount determined by the Minister for that year, the executive shall charge the amount of such excess to its income and expenditure account for the next financial year. The entities which have, by some language, overspent will be required, and there is no other way of doing this, to carry forward the burden. We will pile up a problem year on year. I can only imagine what the case would have been if we did not have the rescue packages of Supplementary Estimates over this past series of years and the burden was laid on each individual hospital site year on year, with the consequent reduction in its capacity to spend over a 12-month period. What would the story be like at this point in time in May 2014? It would be very serious. We must examine how this will work its way out in practice beyond the adoption of this legislation. I fear it will have serious implications in the short and medium term, and beyond, without correction and address.

With regard to the Minister's amendment, the idea that entities in the health services would underspend is fantastical.

It is fantastical, the idea that entities within the health services would underspend. I cannot identify where that might present in the current year. A Minister for Health, of whatever hue, at Cabinet has enough of a battle to fight to try to protect the health services in the determination of its share of the overall Exchequer funding without having subsequently to allow the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform have a further say on where there might be, in the most remote prospects, an underspend. That is too much. My real concern is with the section and what it is doing in terms of building up a big problem for us all in the future.