Mr. Colm Desmond:

The Government and the Minister for Health framed the budget based on the best assessment of what is available and the way in which it can fund the services and the very many competing demands. As we said at the outset, it is a question of making a call on this within the budgetary allocation available to the Minister each year and managing that throughout the year in the manner we described while also accepting, as I pointed out at the beginning, certain unpredictable issues.

I wish to support my colleague in his comments on the State Claims Agency. Timing is everything, and one can predict matters to a degree, but the timing and the nature of the awards are challenging at times. That process is managed and is somewhat outside of our control.

Finally, I will give just a little more detail on the eHealth strategy in ICT. It is funded within the national development plan to a very substantial amount, which is a major advantage the Minister achieved in the national development plan last year. This is the firm basis for significant development in the area of eHealth.