Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The reason I am probing into how the budget is set in the first place is to seek to establish how predictable it was that there would be a significant overrun. Did the HSE through its request in spring-summer 2017 and right up to the eve of the budget in 2017 predict that it would need €600 million to €700 million extra, even on a standstill basis? There has to be a reason this keeps happening in one Department. How predictable was it? Looking ahead to 2019, is it again the case that there is a large gulf between what the HSE is saying it needs to provide health services and what it has been given in the budget?