Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is just crazy stuff. We have just dealt with the budget for next year and Mr. Moloney is saying that he has not discussed with the Minister in Health how much of the deficit this year will be recurring for next year. That is the whole problem. The whole problem is that there is about €1.5 billion of a deficit and the HSE is telling us the drivers behind this is inflation and demand. Those two drivers are not going away. They will be there in 2024 and, therefore, we needed at least two thirds of that deficit next year into the base, which is €1 billion on top of ELS. However, what the Government gave was €708 million and that is why there are punitive risks to the public where posts for which there was supposed to be recruitment are being withdrawn as we speak. As we speak, offices all across the State are writing letters telling people that they must withdraw the offer that was made to them because there is an embargo in terms of recruitment. They will not say, although they should, that it is because the Government has deliberately underfunded health next year.

Is Mr. Moloney genuinely telling me that of the deficit this year, he, his Department or Minister has not had a conversation on how much of that will recur next year? The HSE is very clear that it is at least two thirds.