Health

Health ‘hung out to dry’ by poor budget forecasting, says Ifac

Head of the budgetary regulation agency describes failure to accurately predict cost increases and overspends as ‘alarming’

Paschal Donohoe, the Minister for Public Expenditure, last week approved an additional €4 billion of supplementary spending estimates for this year. Picture: Rollingnews

Poor forecasting by the government is the reason the Department of Health needed a billion euro bailout this year, the head of the state’s budgetary watchdog has said.

Paschal Donohoe, the Minister for Public Expenditure, last week approved an additional €4 billion of supplementary spending estimates for this year, bringing the total scale of departmental bailouts for 2023 to €6 billion.

The Department of Health required a €960 million bailout, which was lower than the ...