Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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99. To ask the Minister for Health the extent to which his Department's expenditure has remained on target with budgetary expectations for the current year in respect of all services; the areas, if any showing a tendency to overspend; if he foresees any particular areas for special attention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30357/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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At the end of May the Department of Health is reporting an underspend of €15m on a gross expenditure basis on its Vote (Vote 38), €11m of which is attributed to current expenditure. The underspend is primarily owing to timing issues in a number of subheads. For instance, there has been less funding than anticipated drawn by some of the directly funded health agencies and there is a timing issue in relation to payments due to the World Health Organisation under Subhead C. However, these timing issues are expected to level out in the coming months. In the case of Subhead D which provides for statutory and non-statutory enquiries and miscellaneous legal fees and settlements, demands on this subhead are determined by the number of legal cases in process at any given time, but given the uncertain nature of legal cases there is always a need for some flexibility with this subhead. My Department will continue to monitor expenditure closely for the remainder of the year.