Mr. Liam Woods:

It is not, Chairman. The Estimates voted by the Oireachtas have always included an embedded income target for the health system. That comes in the Vote and it is distributed throughout the HSE and, when it is relevant to hospitals, to hospitals. The idea of such targets is not new. The reference from Mr. Carter and the RCSI Hospitals Group is that those targets for 2016 have a stretch within them. The question Deputy O’Reilly asked was what happens if that target is not achieved on the income side specifically. The HSE has made provision for the fact that those targets may not be achieved. To be fair, we are doing better than we thought. It has to be said that some of the stretch is being met. We have been clear all year that we are aware there is a risk. The service plan has identified that upfront. We have measures in place to deal with it that are not patient-impacting. I understand the point. Deputy O’Reilly's concern is around patient impact.