Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I suppose the major questions have been asked. One of the issues that arose at the meetings I attended related to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO and pay equality. This committee began to realise early last year that the health Estimates were not sufficient to cover the costs of the HSE and the Department of Health. The basic point I want to ask about is the rainy-day fund that came up at that meeting. Is it a bit ridiculous to have a rainy-day fund and still run a deficit? The IFAC's report would prefer us to run a small surplus this year to get back among those exemplar countries in the OECD area. Is there any point leaving the rainy-day fund for 2019 to balance the books, with whatever additional spending being countered, as my colleague Deputy Chambers was implying, by additional revenue raising?