Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The Supplementary Estimate would only kick in if the capital funds available in the Vote were insufficient for the demands from the HSE overall for their capital programme. At each level there would be a budgeting for the year. It seems to me that the obvious question to ask, in the first instance, is what is the provision for 2023, and to ask the HSE if that is within their own budget. Then if they believe that the allocation in the budget is likely to be insufficient, due to inflation or whatever, the committee can ask where they are going to find the rest of what is required this year. It could end up requiring a Supplementary Estimate.