Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

Has the Minister any mechanism for ensuring that what happened, for example, with the money for A Vision for Change is not replicated with other moneys this year that have been specifically allocated for particular developments — in other words, money meant for a particular area actually being used to plug the holes in the HSE's budget? A Vision for Change, as raised by Deputy Neville, is of particular concern.

Is the Minister aware that unfilled positions are, in effect, saving the HSE money? Has she any way of ensuring positions will not be left unfilled in order to balance the budget? I raise this in the context of figures in the media at the weekend which showed that people were waiting up to a year and a half for colonoscopies, despite what was said after the sad death of Ms Susie Long, who had been waiting on a public list for this procedure but did not get it.

How will the Minister bring down those waiting lists if the HSE budget is so limited that it cannot even do what it did last year? I ask this because of the various pressures on money such as a rising birth rate, growing activity levels, medical inflation, national wage increases, etc.

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