Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 9 October 2012

Public Accounts Committee

Vote Management and Budgetary Situation in 2012: Discussion with Department of Health and HSE

6:30 pm

Mr. Tony O'Brien:

Let me address the Deputy's questions with the permission of the Chair. Of the €130 million, €72 million are not directed at the front line, they are in areas I mentioned earlier, namely, cash management, stock management, changing the procurement practice, travel, printing and so on. That leaves €58 million. We did announce at the end of August, that figure would come from front-line services. We also made clear that we would be managing them carefully against risk assessment processes and looking for all other measures that could be taken in the meantime to avoid any of those cuts. We are continuing to do that.