Mr. Robert Watt:

There is an allocation for the Department of Health and it has increased by, I think, an average of about 6% over the last number of years. That reflects the priority that the Government gives to improving the health system and the demographic pressures and so on. There is a big challenge in terms of managing the budget and staying within it. This year, as the Deputy mentioned, there is an overrun of around €330 million.

As to the issue of financial management and overall value for money, it is a massive system that provides many different services across many different units of the health system. Of course, there are issues around that. Of course, there are issues about how we could improve the service and how service delivery can get better. As I mentioned earlier, the OECD's government publication at a glance has very interesting metrics on spending per capitain countries. On the outcomes, nobody would disagree with the view that the health system is challenging. There are parts of it that are under an awful strain and pressure. It is not really my job to get involved in the cut and thrust of this issue but there are also fantastic things happening in the health service. There are fantastic services. There are people being treated every day in our system who, thankfully, are treated well and leave the system happy with same. There is another story as well, as the Deputy knows from her own experience. It is not all negative. It is not all doom and gloom. There are challenges but there are also very positive aspects of the system as well.