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

It has been worthwhile acknowledging where we are on that. We had a planned budget increase of 7.1% for the end of August and at that time, the actual increase was 7.9%. There was a 0.8% difference between planned and actual expenditure. The figure a year ago was 3.2%. There is a considerable change in the current figures when compared with where we were a year ago. That said, there are still three and a half months in the year and the Minister for Health and I are working very hard to deliver a better overall performance than we did a year ago. As I said a few moments ago, what happened a year ago was unacceptable with respect to the magnitude of the overall supplements required. The group put in place to deal with the matter, chaired by my Department, has met on eight different occasions this year.