David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Okay. The first problem for next year is this €400 million or €500 million there will be. The last time Mr. Gloster was before the committee, and the Secretary General had the same view, he said the permanent baseline funding that was necessary even to stand still was €2 billion. I think the HSE got €700 million in the existing level of service, ELS, so there was a shortfall of €1.3 billion. If that is the case, the HSE will have a shortfall of €1.3 billion for next year or, as Mr. Gloster would put it, "short from the base", plus €500 million carried over. Is that a fair estimate of where we are?