Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

He does. Hopefully, those measures will come to fruition. Time and again, the difficulty is that anticipated savings are not being realised. This year, we will have a shortfall of €40 million, placing pressure on other services. At the back end of the year, we now have a certain amount of fire brigade action in our hospital budget and the broader budget to try to rein in costs. It is important that when we set about achieving savings, they are realisable in the first place. Issues arose in terms of delays in the legislation.

This matter relates to the question raised by Deputy Ó Caoláin and me in the context of the €666 million in savings. Clearly, there is a great deal of scepticism - on that side of the House, not this side - about the ability to save €113 million in probity. Will the Minister of State make the commitment that every effort will be made to ensure that the savings identified will be implemented at the start of the year as opposed to half way through it?

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