Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I said "may not be in office". To what extent could they be perceived by the public as being undemocratic in so far as they attempt to remove expenditure options for potential future governments?

I am a supporter of evidence-based research and policy analysis. However, in regard to the extent to which evidence-based policy analysis and research determines what amounts or proportions are allocated to individual Departments, I was surprised by the level of savings the Minister indicated certain Departments have made. If this type of analysis is as robust as it should be, how is it that some of these savings are being made? I can understand how savings can be made in, for example, the Department of Social Protection when people go back to work but I am not clear as to why money is not reallocated within the Department given that it has clear needs in other areas. It appears instead to have been sucked into the great black hole of the health system.