Irish Examiner view: Independent appraisal for the best

The Productivity and Savings Taskforce has been asked to examine how the multibillion-euro health budget is being spent

State healthcare in all its varied forms makes up a vast, sprawling entity which maintains a presence in almost every nook and corner of Ireland, with a budget commensurate with the organisation’s size.

It is now over two decades since a cabinet minister — usually identified as Brian Cowen — hung the nickname of Angola on the Department of Health, a reference to that African nation’s plague of landmines.

Health has not lost its reputation as a portfolio with the capacity to produce unpleasant surprises for those running it, both politicians and civil servants, and little wonder.