Mr. Tony O'Brien:

In the first couple of months of the year, particularly in the acute hospital sector, for reasons we discussed today, the hospitals were running hot and under our accountability framework we are in the process of bringing that back into line. The Government allocation in respect of the fair deal scheme, in particular, provides an opportunity for us to examine that in a different way. If the fair deal scheme problem had continued, we would have been in significant difficulties. The budget this year has two distinct components. There are demand-led schemes, which have rule sets based on eligibility, meaning certain costs arise on the basis of people accessing their eligibility. This is seen in one dimension as an acceptance and a monitoring process between ourselves and colleagues in the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Then there are the things we have more direct control over.

We have some challenges in the acute hospitals and some challenges in social care that arise from the regulatory issue Deputy John Perry raised. The other divisions are performing in line with their budgets. It is relatively early in the year for us to make end of year projections so we do not but we know the challenges and we are using our escalation or accountability framework. It is a particular feature of this year's service plan and we are triggering the necessary responses to address the issues.