There were sharp exchanges between the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, and the Fine Gael spokesman on finance, Mr Michael Noonan, over whether there was a saving of £32 million in the Health Estimates announced last week.
The Minister insisted that there was no saving in the Health vote or Estimates. Mr Noonan accused Mr McCreevy of misleading the House about the issue but later withdrew the remark at the insistence of the Leas Ceann Comhairle, Dr Rory O'Hanlon.
Mr Noonan said that when the Minister presented the Book of Estimates he pointed out there had been an "overrun" in Garda and prison officer overtime and in agriculture of £131 million that was offset by savings in Social Welfare and Health. Mr McCreevy replied that "there are no savings on the Health vote. The amount of money allocated for health was the gross amount." Mr Noonan said the Minister had misled the House and reiterated that the Minister had talked of "savings" when he presented the Estimates last week.