Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

I am not trying to avoid the general nature of the question, but if I look at the figures I have for the four-year period from 2008 to 2011, there is a total for Supplementary Estimates of €1.4 billion, or approximately €300 million a year on average, although there are many complexities in the figures. In 2012 the figure was €360 million, while in 2014, it was €219 million. It went to €680 million and €649 million in the following two years, 2014 and 2015, when we were coming out of the recession. One would have to have a more detailed discussion on what happened in that regard. In 2016, an interesting year, the HSE received an extra €500 million. It received it on 5 July, but the money began to be spoken about by the end of April. It was not a Supplementary Estimate. One could argue that that is a technical point.