Mr. Tony O'Brien:

There are elements of what the HSE does that are not dissimilar to what other Departments, such as the Department of Social Protection, must do, that is, respond to the needs that arise as a result of the overall economic situation, the pace of progress and so forth. This is only one part of the picture. I do not put it forward as the entire picture because I have already acknowledged the financial planning and contemporary financial systems issues. Clearly, also, we have an issue to address in terms of hospitals and other areas. However, the HSE is sometimes open to criticism which is couched simply in terms of it not managing its expenditure correctly. That criticism can be made and it is part of the explanation for some of this, but the HSE does not have the capacity to manage eligibility issues relating to the schemes we refer to generically as the PCRS schemes. They are based on eligibility. The need arises, the cost is incurred and the HSE has no discretion for the vast majority of that.