Simon Harris slapped down over health budget

Health Minister Simon Harris received a stinging rebuke from one of his most senior Cabinet colleagues over applications to increase the supplementary, or overrun, health budget for 2020, the Irish Examiner can reveal.

A letter from Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe to Mr Harris on August 13 of this year expressed the former’s “extreme disappointment” that, rather than attempting to rein in the Department of Health’s budgetary overrun, health officials were instead proposing that figure be extended by a further €60m.