Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Negotiations happen between the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform and the Department of Health, or any other relevant Department. The Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform is not going to engage directly with agencies that are under the remit of another Minister. I understand the chief executive of the HSE sent an email outlining his concerns on the morning of the budget speech.

What I witness is that representatives of all Departments come into the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform every year and ask for more money than is available. They come in and make a request for money that is beyond what they are likely to get. They all know what they are likely to get because it is spelled out in the summer economic statement. The Department for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform tells the world it will pay out, for example, 6.1% in extra expenditure for the year.

The Department of Health has not been underfunded. It now has €7.4 billion more in its budget than it had in 2019. It has 23,000 extra staff. It is not a case that the Department is not receiving very large quantities of money.

See this speech in context