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Health Committee to examine overspending in 2018 health budget

23 Oct 2018, 12:43

The Joint Committee on Health will examine overspending in the 2018 health budget on Wednesday, Oct. 24.

The meeting at 9 a.m. in Committee Room 3 can be viewed live here and on Android and Apple devices using the Houses of the Oireachtas app.

Scheduled witnesses include

  • Stephen Mulvany, chief financial officer of the Health Service Executive, and
  • Officials from the Department of Health.

Budget 2018 allocated €15.3 billion to health care, but as in other budgets over the past decade, spending overshot estimates while income from user fees fell below expectations. The Parliamentary Budget Office estimates that the Government will need to provide €700 million in supplementary health funding this year. Budget 2019 allocates €17 billion to health.

“Such annual shortfalls and additional supplementary funding requirements have become a chronic feature of budgeting for Ireland’s health care system,” said Committee Chairman Michael Harty TD. “The Committee will hope to identify, with the help of departmental and HSE officials, why budget plans on health costs keep falling so short of the forecast mark and whether this cycle can be broken in 2019.”

Media enquiries

Shawn Pogatchnik
Houses of the Oireachtas
Communications Unit
Leinster House
Dublin 2
+353 1 618 4203
+353 86 701 3295
shawn.pogatchnik@oireachtas.ie
Twitter: @OireachtasNews

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