Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have two questions, the first of which relates to the health budget and, depending on how one looks at it, the projected underfunding, or overspend. For a number of weeks, Sinn Féin has been trying to discover how much of that overspend is going to be classed as a recurrent cost because the answer to that question will impact on the budgetary process. We have not been able to get an answer. In the document supplied by Mr. Coffey, it is stated that the overspend seems to be driven by recruitment, which indicates that the overall run on the health budget should be classed as a recurring spend. Perhaps Mr. Coffey could comment on that. We are close to budget time and are still unable to identify how much of that black hole is down to recurring costs or how it will impact on the budgetary process. Does Mr. Coffey have any thoughts or comments on how we are monitoring our health budgets? This is an ongoing issue. Estimates are calculated every year, but even the Estimate we are looking at this year ranges between €600 million and €800 million. There is no exact figure yet.

My second question relates to figure No. 2 on page 13 of the pre-budget statement provided by Mr. Coffey, which gives us an indication of areas which potentially could overheat. Much of the commentary we have heard to date has been about housing and construction and how that area might impact on the economy, which might lead to its overheating. However, the chart provided seems to suggest there is no risk of overheating, or that there is a very minimal risk of overheating, through housing construction, and that non-housing construction is a potential driver for overheating. Could Mr. Coffey go into more detail on that matter?