Mr. Stephen Mulvany:

The Comptroller and Auditor General referenced "unaudited". That is because our annual financial statements are part of an overall document which includes an annual report, which will have some figures in it, and the operating and financial review. The Comptroller and Auditor General does not audit those two parts of the document in the normal sense of the word. He simply checks them for consistency with the annual financial statement. That is what "unaudited" means in that context.

The appropriation account, which the Department looks after, is based on certain legal requirements, as is the HSE's annual financial statement. The Minister sets out the type and format of that. I reassure the Deputy that the monthly performance reporting, as Ms McGirr mentioned, is based on much more detailed information, which goes across all the care groups, including acute, mental health and primary care, and all aspects of the HSE, both in terms of programme-type areas and kind of cost. That information plus commentaries on it is available and the HSE does publish its-----