Mr. Tony O'Brien:

We established the financial reform board, which Dr. McLoughlin referenced, which includes representatives from the HSE, the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, DPER. That was supported with some external expertise and with Mr. Byrne once he was appointed. The purpose of that was to agree on a consensus basis the nature of the system we should be seeking from a business point of view, bearing in mind that the health system is about to go through substantial organisational change. In order to seek to ensure the best possible passage for our business case when it goes into DPER we felt it appropriate to have that level of discussion. The board concluded its considerations at the turn of September into October. Presentations were made to the relevant Ministers in the Department of Health to ensure that it aligned with their expectations of what would be required in the future and it was agreed at that point by the board that following the consultation the business case would be developed for formal submission to DPER, which is what is currently happening.