Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The HSE received a budget from the Government, voted by the Oireachtas, of nearly €17 billion this year, an increase of approximately €1 billion on last year. It is not reasonable for an agency that is receiving such a big budget increase to come back looking for additional increases in spending during the year. It is often the case that additional money must be found towards the end of the year but we cannot operate a health service or a budget on the basis of ongoing demands for additional spending throughout the course of the year and I must take into account the strong advice received about that from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and others during the year.

See this speech in context