Mr. Joseph Nugent:

Close to half of that spend related to IT contracts, with regard to which either new contracts are now in place or we are waiting for the Office of Government Procurement to sign off on contracts. This will take out half of the spend. The major areas of difficulty we continue to have are in the provision of towing services, where there have been legal challenges in the past which have delayed us putting in place procurement although we still have a requirement to deliver services, and medical services where, in parts of the country, there are GPs who do not want to enter any contractual arrangement with us. Unfortunately, we will continue with reasonably large numbers of contracts. Our job is to try to reduce the monetary value of these contracts to the greatest extent possible. As stated, I believe the IT issues will be resolved this year so I do not see it as being an issue in 2019. This will take €11 million or €12 million from the figure referenced by the Deputy.