Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

In the context of the review, has the Minister been able to give guidance to the HSE on the distinction between capital expenditure and revenue and current expenditure? Embarrassingly, the Minister had to come to the House some years ago to correct errors in the HSE's capital budget. In recent days, we have again seen the HSE underspend its capital budget by €90 million only to deny it is a problem as the money can be switched over to revenue. The difference between capital and current expenditure is fundamental. Leaving aside all this other fancy stuff, has the Minister been able to talk to the HSE to establish whether it has made another multi-million euro error in its distinction between capital and revenue? Has the Minister managed to ring and sort it out for them? There is no point talking about reviewing public expenditure if the HSE, which spends nearly €13 billion and rising per year, cannot distinguish between what is capital and what is current.

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