Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The management of health expenditure in October, November and December is always a major part of the budgetary jigsaw at this point in the year but we are in a very different position from that of other years because of the possibility and risk of our country having to deal with Covid-19 during the normal flu season. At a time when we are trying to keep our schools open and encourage people to return to safe workplaces, this is a major challenge. The scale of the winter plan reflected that in terms of what is being done with public health experts and through the provision of additional beds.

On the question on how we are going to manage this on an ongoing basis, it goes back to whether we can track what the money is being used for. In many ways, greater clarity is required than in the past because we have to know every day how many beds are available from an ICU perspective, who is in them and whether they are being used. That is not information we can check every month; we have to know the position every day. In one way, the measurement of those indicators is far sharper now than at other times.

The other medium-term challenge we are going to face is trying to assess the resources that need to be permanently available. At present, it is very difficult to be clear on that. We are not seeking to make additional budgetary forecasts beyond next year now because we hope we will be clearer on some of these issues in the first half of next year.