Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I do not think they can be balanced against each other. The overall budgetary pressures on health — for example, the reduced contribution from the health levy due to the lower numbers of people in employment — are a countervailing pressure point to the saving obtained due to the 8% reduction in professional fees. If the Deputy understands my point, in the context of the full budget, the achievement of a saving in one area does not allow one to ring-fence that saving and put it towards improvement of services in that general area, because there are budget overruns on the other side which must be catered for.

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