Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The problem with that is we, the taxpayers, are the HSE's contingency provision. I disagree with Mr. Mulvany. I understand healthcare systems are more complicated than coffee shops, but my point is that we all know that it is good budgetary practice, no matter how simple or complex the organisation is, to predict adverse events and make provision for them accordingly. Mr. Mulvany has said the HSE knows that things are going to go wrong, that there will be extra demand but that it does not make provision accordingly. That is exactly the problem, which is why every year it goes to the Minister who has to come back to the Dáil and we have to go back to the taxpayer to say an extra €700 million is needed. If the HSE knows that provisions are required, it should make them accordingly.