Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the information he supplied. Essentially, I am wearing my hat as spokesperson on public expenditure.

I am shocked to hear that the Haddington Road agreement seems to be increasing costs in the public service. The agreement was intended to lead to a reduction of €1 billion across the public service, one third of which was to come from the HSE because it employs approximately one third of all public service employees. Perhaps the Minister will be able to provide some indication of the actual savings in the Department of Health and the HSE as a result of the Haddington Road agreement on a year-by-year basis for the period 2013 to 2015, as the agreement is due to expire in 2016.

I note the Minister did not deal with the issue of the top-up payments for senior managers. Up to 85 such cases have been referred to the Department of Health for decision. I ask if the Minister would provide that information later in a written reply.

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