Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We have had some very good presentations over the last week from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, and the Parliamentary Budget Office, PBO. One of the themes arising is their concern around oversight and spending. The PBO has said it is struggling to keep up with the announcements of particular budgetary items. A number of groups have raised the issues of oversight and transparency in their submissions to us. I will give an example. The winter plan, with an expenditure of €600 million, allocates 10% of the funds to private hospitals. I am not arguing about the benefit of that in the context of capacity for the health service, but there was not a huge amount of detail about the nature of that agreement. Considering the dynamic nature of the spending we are required to do at the moment, will the Minister comment on how the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is dealing with the issue of oversight and transparency in both the immediate and the medium term?