Results 8,321-8,340 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: The April figure for the Exchequer represents a €20 million underspend. The HSE figure is €116 million.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: On the current expenditure side, as opposed to the capital side, the health underspend to the end of April in the Exchequer returns was €38 million. I am trying to compare it with the figure the HSE has reported of €116 million. Which assessment records the figure on a cash basis and which records it on an accruals basis?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: Would it be possible to send the high-level reconciliation to the committee? The way we account for expenditure has come in for criticism in the recent OECD report on public accounting in Ireland. This makes it difficult for policy-makers and legislators such as us to get a proper handle on the numbers. What I hear Mr. Mulvany saying is the single biggest reason is the Exchequer returns...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: It includes bills the HSE received before the end of April but that have not yet been paid. They are accounted for in the HSE's estimated deficit of €116 million. That is the figure at which we should be looking at more.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: What are the other main elements of the overall health Vote apart from the HSE?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: If we could receive that information, it would be really helpful. I am keen to pick up from Deputy Jonathan O'Brien's questioning on the capital plan. In what month typically has the capital plan been adopted in recent years? When was the capital plan adopted?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: When was the last HSE capital plan formally adopted?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: Is there a rolling HSE capital plan?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: It is not adopted by the Department or approved by the Minister. Is that the case?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: When is the last time one was adopted by the Minister?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: What purpose is served in adopting the 2019 capital plan in July 2019?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: If it was to be adopted, would it be the 2019 capital plan or the capital plan for the period 2019 to 2022?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: Does it not all seem loose, ad hoc and amount to making it up as we go along? There seems to be no real structure to it. The Department cannot even tell us for sure when the last HSE capital plan was approved, although Mr. Desmond thinks it was perhaps two years ago. We are more than half way through 2019 and we still do not have an approved capital plan for 2019.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: I know that.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: To what plan is the HSE working in spending the money?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: To what capital plan is the HSE working in spending the capital allocation?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: It does not necessarily come under a capital plan but under the HSE's rolling investment programme. That is what I am trying to figure out.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: To put it mildly, would it not be preferable for the HSE to be working to an agreed capital plan that we would know had been signed off on early in the year? In that way we would know what we were going to put into the pipeline by way of projects and it would be approved by the Department and the Minister. Neither the HSE nor the Department seems to have it.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: Another issue I wish to discuss is the national development plan and the national children's hospital. A memorandum on funding from the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Mr. Robert Watt, was published. It was dated from May and covered his assessment of the broadband plan. He said the extra funding needed for the national children's hospital project in...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budget Management and Control of Health Expenditure in the context of Budget 2020: Discussion (9 Jul 2019)
Michael McGrath: Can the Department tell us today the amount required above and beyond what is included in the base or provided for in the future allocation about which it knows? How much extra is required for the national children's hospital project?