Mr. Damien Moloney:

Broadly, Project Ireland 2040 is a long-term plan for capital and setting capital expenditure ceilings is a function of the Minister, so it is something in which this Department is involved. Project Ireland comprises the national planning framework and the national development plan. As the Deputy will be aware, we reviewed the national development plan last year, published a number of documents relating to long-term issues and agreed ceilings in that regard.

As for whether we can take the initiative in long-term issues such as workforce planning, we certainly can. We have a number of vehicles through which we often work with Departments to look at the kinds of issues the Deputy raised. For example, in this year's spending review, we and the Department of Health are looking at some workforce planning issues including the provision of nurses and doctors. Those issues are capable of being dealt with in a collaborative way and, in driving change and reform across the system, we try to work with Departments and suggest topics-----