Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

I would like to reach the targets in the first instance. The Deputy is right to say that it is small with regard to the overall budget. However, it is tough to achieve each one of those. For example, the changes made this year in regard to the shift to email from post is a €30 million saving but that now has to be implemented. Another example is that there is an opportunity to save €7.2 million in relation to food waste and that has to be done on a hospital-by- hospital basis. I would give a particular shoutout to Drogheda, which has done particularly good work.

The catering manager there has made savings of €92,000 this year, but through an extraordinarily hard piece of work to recalibrate and change the kitchen and the processes right across the hospital. Other hospitals are interested in doing that. I certainly regard that €92,000 as incredibly hard won and incredibly valuable. It takes a lot of those savings. I know it is small but it is really meaningful.