Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

No, he did not. As for the Department of Finance memorandum dated 28 June, it stated that it would be wrong to spend any capital money on current expenditure or vice versa, and it would have been wrong had it happened in this case. However, I will reiterate my earlier remarks. On 22 December, the HSE gave the Department a forecast. Each month the HSE meets the Department and we align expenditure with budgets. It's forecast stated that it had an underspend on the capital side of approximately €56.4 million for the year and an underspend on the revenue side of €11.9 million. The appropriation account was drawn up on the basis of that forecast and the figure of 10% was carried over. It was an estimate of what the HSE thought the outturn for the year would be.

On 17 January, the HSE informed the Department that it appeared that the forecast might change in that while it still had an underspend on the capital side of €57.4 million, it might have an overspend on the revenue side of €53 million, and that it would not have the final outturn until 31 March, when it is obliged to so do under legislation.

The HSE did not use capital funds on the revenue side. If the HSE's estimate turns out to be the position in March, we will seek the Department of Finance's permission to use the surplus on capital to make up the deficit on the revenue side. However, it is not the case that the HSE——

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