Documents reveal dispute over out-of-kilter Department of Health budget plan

Secretary-general at the Department of Health Robert Watt.

The Department of Health was told that budget estimates it submitted were so out of kilter with what had been agreed that they could not even be considered for ministerial engagement.

In the run-up to last year’s budget, the under-fire department had submitted a seven-page summary of its financial needs to the Department of Public Expenditure.