Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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In the context of Mr. Coffey's overall brief, does he find it extraordinary that at this point we are fairly certain there will be a minimum €600 million overspend in the Department of Health? There is quite a lot of speculation, probably reasonably well informed, that it may be much closer to €1 billion. I do not know if the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has oversight on how the Government is actually governing and managing but for a long time it has now become an absolute part of the budget that health budgets are, at best, guesstimates. This impacts on the shortage of funds and access to funds for housing.

The current Minister for Health seems absolutely helpless in relation to the budget at a time when the economy is doing well. Patients find themselves in vast queues. The council's remit is financial advisory. However, the Government simply cannot get the accounting economic value system correct. Has the committee met the Minister for Health or, indeed, the Minister for Finance, to find out why they appear to be wholly unable to get a handle on health? If it is the case that the figures are wrong and underestimated they should be fixed.