Mr. Tony O'Brien:

In terms of the 2008-14 period, €640 million of those supplementaries, which totalled 0.7%, related to areas which are demand-led in the true sense of the word - medical cards, GP fees, drugs, and other demand-led schemes - where we operate the scheme in accordance with legislation and eligibility guidelines. Where those costs arise, apart from doing something extraordinary, there is not much that we can do to control them down. There were other sums in respect of Exchequer-related and other items. For example, the budget in a particular year might have been constructed in anticipation of certain legislation coming through and having a particular effect on costs. When that did not come through and that effect did not materialise, then clearly the budget and the cost did not match.

We tend to talk about things being in our direct control, which is in areas where we can make management decisions. It is also fair to say that a very substantial amount of the supplementaries in that period, €406 million, related to those areas also.