Mr. John Conlon:

The effective way we do that is through the Vote management process. Each of the Departments works through a particular section in the Department, which we call a Vote. Where there are overspends or underspends, whether on the current or capital side, there is regular engagement between the Department and the line Departments in relation to how they are spending money. We have fairly regular meetings with the big Departments. They submit expenditure management reports to us to explain how they are procuring and spending those moneys. I must emphasise that the responsibility as to how they do that is with the relevant Accounting Officers. It is their responsibility to explain, both to the Oireachtas and to us, why they are overspending, and whether it is for good or bad reasons, as the Cathaoirleach has said. We do not impose a particular sanction to punish them, if that is what the Cathaoirleach is asking.