Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I welcome the fact that the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has had the humility to admit his Department got the sums wrong and that it has to rejig the Estimates. I would welcome the same humility on the part of the Minister for Health and Children in regard to what is happening in the Health Service Executive where clearly there is a mess in regard to the budget. It is not possible to sort out that mess except at the cost of extreme suffering to people who are requesting services.

If it is possible for the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to rejig his budget so as to take funding from an unallocated area, the question arises, particularly in regard to health and the Health Service Executive, as to why it is not possible to shrink the administrative budget and rejig the money for patient care. We know the sums were wrong and the Minister has been big enough to acknowledge that. This would reduce the seriously distressing stories Members on both sides of this House are confronted with on a daily basis.

The Minister for Finance is not present in the House again today. There has been no opportunity to talk to him since the Dáil resumed about the €1 billion hole in the Government's finances compared to what was forecast at the beginning of the year. Without the formation of committees, there has been no opportunity to discuss the changes in the financial position in any detail with the Minister for Finance. Again, he is not present in the House today——

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