Mr. Liam Woods:

I understood one of the questions to refer to the HSE operating centrally, through procurement, negotiating national contracts and the charging of a margin to hospitals in the implementation of those contracts. The answer to that is "No" and if there is any incident the Deputy is aware of, I would be interested to hear about it. There is no such policy. We are a cost-based organisation and there is no attempt to do what is suggested.

In terms of the specific deficits on schemes in the year to date, I do not have the data with me but they are published and available on the website. I can get a copy for the Deputy for all schemes. High-tech schemes and the long-term illness scheme are the biggest single contributors to that.

The data are in our published report and I will send a copy to the Deputy.

At the end of October there was €206 million in outstanding claims due to the HSE. The work under way that the Minister and CEOs referred to in terms of accelerating income is with a view to receiving €125 million of that. The Deputy asked about older claims and the target is to collect the older claims within that €125 million. It is all inclusive. The €125 million target for this was in the service plan and is now being delivered. The entire issue is being addressed.