Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The director general of the HSE is coming before the Committee of Public Accounts on Thursday and today he provided us with the opening statement he intends to make. In that statement, he outlines some of the reasons for those overruns. In the acute hospitals area, the figure last year was €139 million and the director general provides a breakdown in that regard. There were income shortfalls of €73 million, while the main driver of the rest of the figure was the additional activity in service demand, which he expects will continue year on year. While I understand that the Minister is discussing these matters with the Minister, Deputy Harris, when will he have a better idea of whether there will be an impact on the fiscal space available next year? Will we just have to wait for the budget to find that out?

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