The Department of Health is to carry out an investigation to determine how Health Boards failed to spend millions of euros allocated to them in their annual budgets.
The probe into the financial planning of the health boards was confirmed today by the Department and is understood to involve sums of millions of euros that were not spent.
The investigation was called after a report carried in today's edition of the Sunday Tribune revealed the overspend.
The Western Health Board, the Mid-Western Health Board and the South-Eastern Health Board all reported large surpluses.