Senior Government officials will shortly examine the 2005 accounts of the new Health Service Executive after yesterday's revelation of a €56.4 million miscalculation.for 2006 is now not available
Minister for Finance Brian Cowen told the Dáil yesterday that the HSE had mistakenly believed it had €56.4 million left over from its capital budget for 2005 which it could carry over and spend this year.
This figure had been taken into account in the framing of the Appropriation Act, enacted before Christmas, which allowed for the carry-over of €345.7 million of unspent capital from all Government departments to next year.
However, Mr Cowen said yesterday that last Tuesday week the HSE had told the Department of Health it wished to alter this figure. The Department of Health has said the anticipated capital saving of €56.4 million "may have been used to meet similar-sized costs under the current expenditure heading".
This means €56.4 million to be spent on the HSE's agreed capital programme of €558 million this year is now not available, having been used for current spending in 2005. This amounts to about 10 per cent of the total capital budget.
Government spokesmen sought to play down the error's significance yesterday, saying the ministerial order authorising departments to carry forward money unspent in 2005 had not yet been made and would reflect the new reality when it was made.
In addition, the revised Estimates Volume, updating the abridged Estimates Volume published before the Budget, had not yet been finalised and the new situation would be reflected in that too.
However spokesmen for the Minister for Finance and Minister for Health could not say last night whether this meant the agreed plans for capital spending by the HSE during 2006 were now €56.4 million short, or whether extra money would make up the shortfall.
Department of Health officials were studying the HSE's 2005 accounts to establish the precise amount of the shortfall.
The admission is a major embarrassment for the HSE in its first year of operation. Mr Cowen said, however, that he was "determined to ensure that it will not have an adverse impact on the plans for the HSE's capital spending in 2006. As matters stand, the 2006 capital allocation for the HSE is €558 million, an increase of 10 per cent on the provisional 2005 outturn."
The legal instrument which gives effect to the carry-over of funds from 2005 to 2006 and which determines the actual amounts to be carried forward is a ministerial order. Under the relevant legislation (section 91 of the Finance Act 2004), the order must be made before the end of March and the draft order will be put formally before the House for approval by resolution.
The revised Estimates Volume will also include details of the carryover under each vote and will be accordingly advising the House in due course in compliance with the legal requirements.
Fine Gael's finance spokesman Richard Bruton described as "mind-boggling" the fact that "a hole has emerged in the Minister's current budget and she has switched money allocated for capital purposes to fill that hole. Such a change needs approval from the Dáil, which she did not get."
Labour's spokeswoman Joan Burton called on Minister for Health Mary Harney to explain the error, which was on a scale she had never seen before.
Sinn Féin's spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the error in the HSE's accounts was more proof of the "shambolic" nature of health service governance in the State.