Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The HSE did not just tell me, it told us all in the HSE service plan, as it does most years, the challenges and risks that exist in an organisation like the HSE. This is not the first year the HSE has needed a supplementary budget. If one looks back to 2006, we had a long-stay charges repayment scheme of €1 billion. We had shortfalls of €240 million and overrun of demand led schemes in 2007, €345 million in 2008, €595 million in 2010 and €680 million in 2014. I am not saying it is a good thing but we all know we need to reform our health service in order that it can deliver value for money and improve services, which is why we have all signed up to the Sláintecare plan. The law is very clear. The HSE has a legal obligation under the Health Act to present a service plan that it signs up to delivering. It can highlight risks and challenges and it did highlight those risks and challenges. Ultimately when it submits a service plan to the Minister of the day, it is committing to deliver the services contained within the service plan. It is its legal responsibility. We need to improve the oversight and governance structures. That is why I have appointed Sir Ciarán Devane as the new chair designate of the HSE board. That is why I want to put a competency-based board in place as well. The Deputy may talk about Storm Emma or the State Claims Agency costs and say they do not explain it but they explain a fair bit of it. Let us just take the State Claims Agency as an example. We cannot predict the level of claims being paid out every year. It as clear there was an overrun in that area. It is clear Storm Emma cost €40 million. It was also clear, let us be honest, that when it came to our acute hospitals and disability sector there was a significant overspend. When the Deputy asks what I told the HSE to do, I certainly did not tell it to reduce those services because when one is the Minister for Health, one does not have the luxury of telling sick people they are to go home and come back the next year. We have to manage. That is the situation that I and all my predecessors have found themselves in.

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