Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests. The issue of overruns was raised with the Secretary General of the Department of Health and with the head of the HSE recently. When overruns occur on a regular basis in a Department, does the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform have a system that triggers an alarm? I have raised questions about this in the House every year, as far back as I can remember. Where an overrun takes place fairly regularly, is there not some mechanism which identifies the cause or causes within the Department itself? Does Mr. Moloney's Department inquire of the Department in question, whichever one it may be, as to what is the cause?

We were told at the Joint Committee on Health that it was demand led and that one could not predict but that is not true. Everybody has to predict, the prediction has to be fairly accurate or some reason given as to why it is not accurate. Does that process apply? Does the Department require that process to take place in all Departments, including the Department of Health?