Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are two reasons for that. The first is a time-lag effect. The Deputy quoted the HSE's figures, which are available up to the end of April. However, my two Departments are also looking at expenditure from May and June. The second reason is that the figures I have here include both the HSE and the Department of Health. As matters stand, the figures to the end of June indicate an show of 6.9% versus a budgeted increase of 6.3%. That indicates a degree of over-performance which means that this is a key area in respect of which I need to be very careful for the remainder of the year.