Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Under the mental health budget, and I am reading this from the letter, he said the actual sum initially sought by the HSE was €35 million. Can we ask for some documentary evidence of that?

On the prior adjustment, I do not know why this is addressed in this. There is an acceptance that there is prior adjustment to the 2020 accounts. He is saying it is in the range of €10 million to €100 million. That seems to be quite a wide range. It is strange to have addressed that at all.

The recruitment targets is an issue we will have to return to. It may well be that we will deal with some of that with regard to, for example, mental health in the next couple of weeks. Is the Department being set targets that it cannot meet? Is the money being provided for targets it cannot meet? If it cannot meet them, why not? It may well be that there are a variety of reasons for that. Not spending money is as big an issue where a service is required as spending money badly, so it is very much within our remit. It is certainly something we need to take a serious look at.