Mr. Colm Desmond:

The Department would not allow any overspending outside of what takes place without it being agreed that it is a demand-led area where it is difficult to refuse demand. For example, one cannot refuse demand in the primary care reimbursement service of the GMS, reimbursement for certain high-tech drugs and, as happened with the adverse weather last year, increased demand for emergency departments or other acute hospital beds. All of these matters confer an entitlement on the health service user. They would be flagged as they begin to emerge during the performance reporting process and there would be interrogation of the basis for it, how real it was-----