Mr. Paul Reid:

We expressed concerns earlier in the year in terms of the implications for the HSE’s budget and the extra funding required. That was our stated position in early May and it would have been a big factor. Regarding the overall capital envelope available to the HSE, if one looks at the major national strategic infrastructural projects, particularly in health, they are the right projects and have a high-capital demand. The flexibility within our budget beyond the big major construction projects is tight anyway. Our express concerns at that point in time were related to having to fund extra which would reduce the limited flexibility we have.

I believe we have made progress in the past few weeks and it was right to work it through with my colleague, Mr. Jim Breslin, in the Department. In terms of achieving the envelope we had set out in the draft, I would be more confident in what has been set out in the economic statement. The flexibility and capital will be there for us to set out the draft plan we submitted earlier. That is a process we will finalise with the Department in the coming days and weeks.