John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

However, Mr. Desmond did comment on them when he said the Department of Health has more complex challenges than other Departments. I have brought him back to the point where he does not know that for sure and is surmising that it may be the case.

I thank the Chairman for the latitude I have been given. We would have always thought that the big supplementary budgets for health are caused by a drain in one particular area, for example, the drugs scheme, hospital beds or primary care, but the drilling down that the Parliamentary Budget Office has done suggests that the Supplementary Estimate required this year is spread pretty evenly across the entire health system. It is about 5% across health and there is no big chunk of additional funding being provided to one area as opposed to other areas. What does that tell us?