Dept of Health accused of massive overruns 'against backdrop of poor delivery'

Then public expenditure minister Michael McGrath said it was a 'particular concern' that budget overruns were notified so late, especially when there had been a 'significant shortfall' in recruitment of additional staff. Picture: Jim Coughlan

The Department of Health has been accused of tallying massive overruns in health expenditure “against a backdrop of poor delivery on new developments”. 

In pre-budget discussions, the Department of Public Expenditure said there would be an effective 20% increase in core health spending with spending overruns only being notified at very late notice.