Mr. Paul Reid:

Not necessarily. If you go back all the up down the value chain, ultimately, it is at the Department of public expenditure level and what is approved by Government in terms of budgets. It is revised on an annual basis. There is a mood in some services to give a greater predictability on a multi-annual basis, whether it is capital or operational funding. It would go back to an approach in terms of budgeting. The HSE or most bodies would not have the remit to commit to multi-annual funding. It goes all the way back up the value chain to how budgets are set and how the estimates are taken onboard.

A practical issue arising in the community and voluntary organisations is retaining staff. Staff might have an annual contract and do not know beyond that. In the current environment, that is really unstable. These are great people in many cases, in most cases.