Mr. Robert Watt:

The summary Estimates were prepared on budget night and there are always changes. In the past number of years, those changes tended to be of a technical nature and not of a significant policy nature. In the past, there used to be significant policy changes adding hundreds of millions of euro to the summary REV, the abridged REV and the final revised REV. We now have technical adjustments and this year they consisted of €40 million or €50 million. Mr. Feeney can compare them but it was a small amount in the overall scheme.

We realised then that for the children's hospital to proceed and for the Government to make a decision, it needed to allocate more money for the hospital in the allocation for the Department for 2019. We were anxious to publish the REV but, as the Deputy will be aware, there are many moving parts in this and it is a very detailed document. We were anxious to publish it but the timeframe did not allow us to get the Government decision not only with respect to the children's hospital but also what the implications would be for other Votes. The Minister and the Government took a view that there had to be a reallocation not just for one Vote but for other Votes.