Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept that there are some improvements, but it is not good for morale in the hospital system or the health system, or for the morale of officials in the Department or anyone else involved, for us to be seen falling short of the target for one reason or another, or to do so again for a different reason in a subsequent year. That does not wash with the public or staff. It frustrates the staff. I am not being negative about it but, as a former Opposition spokesman on health, I would have thought that, when the Estimates are being drawn up at the beginning of the year, various known unknowns or unknown unknowns, as a certain president used to say, would be brought into play and their likely impact over the course of the year calculated. I would have thought a prime cost, PC, sum would be included for issues of which the health service was not yet aware to ensure and safeguard the veracity of the Estimate. The veracity of the Estimate at the beginning of the year is crucial. We can increase the number on waiting lists by any amount while still maintaining the veracity of the financial Estimate, but that does not solve the problem; it does not deliver. If we do not start delivering very quickly, confidence will be lost.

I will move on. The Chairman can tell me when I am running out of runway.