John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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My question does not relate to the decisions of the Government, which I understand. I want to know how the process works and Mr. O'Brien has clarified this matter. It is the case that the HSE prepares a budget plan taking known and unknown factors into account and arrives at a figure as a best estimate of its needs for the year.

Mr. O'Brien, in turn, then presents that to Mr. McLoughlin, who argues the case with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The political end of it is the question of how much money we have and whether we can meet this figure, and then the final figure is reached. That generally is how it works, is it not?