diff --git a/lib/javascript-static.js b/lib/javascript-static.js
index fa0dfc03e0c..a303aa83163 100644
--- a/lib/javascript-static.js
+++ b/lib/javascript-static.js
@@ -1442,14 +1442,20 @@ M.util.help_popups = {
 M.util.help_icon = {
     Y : null,
     instance : null,
-    add : function(Y, properties) {
-        this.Y = Y;
-        properties.node = Y.one('#'+properties.id);
-        if (properties.node) {
-            properties.node.on('click', this.display, this, properties);
+    initialised : false,
+    setup : function(Y) {
+        if (this.initialised) {
+            // Exit early if we have already completed setup
+            return;
         }
+        this.Y = Y;
+        Y.one('body').delegate('click', this.display, 'span.helplink a', this);
+        this.initialised = true;
     },
-    display : function(event, args) {
+    add : function(Y, properties) {
+        this.setup(Y);
+    },
+    display : function(event) {
         event.preventDefault();
         if (M.util.help_icon.instance === null) {
             var Y = M.util.help_icon.Y;
@@ -1479,7 +1485,7 @@ M.util.help_icon = {
                         //  Hide the menu if the user clicks outside of its content
                         boundingBox.get("ownerDocument").on("mousedown", function (event) {
                             var oTarget = event.target;
-                            var menuButton = Y.one("#"+args.id);
+                            var menuButton = this.helplink;
 
                             if (!oTarget.compareTo(menuButton) &&
                                 !menuButton.contains(oTarget) &&
@@ -1496,28 +1502,24 @@ M.util.help_icon = {
                         this.overlay.hide();
                     },
 
-                    display : function(event, args) {
-                        if (Y.one('html').get('dir') == 'rtl') {
-                            var overlayPosition = [Y.WidgetPositionAlign.TR, Y.WidgetPositionAlign.LC];
+                    display : function(event) {
+                        var overlayPosition;
+                        this.helplink = event.target.ancestor('span.helplink a', true);
+                        if (Y.one('html').get('dir') === 'rtl') {
+                            overlayPosition = [Y.WidgetPositionAlign.TR, Y.WidgetPositionAlign.LC];
                         } else {
-                            var overlayPosition = [Y.WidgetPositionAlign.TL, Y.WidgetPositionAlign.RC];
+                            overlayPosition = [Y.WidgetPositionAlign.TL, Y.WidgetPositionAlign.RC];
                         }
 
-                        this.helplink = args.node;
-
                         this.overlay.set('bodyContent', Y.Node.create('<img src="'+M.cfg.loadingicon+'" class="spinner" />'));
-                        this.overlay.set("align", {node:args.node, points: overlayPosition});
-
-                        var fullurl = args.url;
-                        if (!args.url.match(/https?:\/\//)) {
-                            fullurl = M.cfg.wwwroot + args.url;
-                        }
-
-                        var ajaxurl = fullurl + '&ajax=1';
+                        this.overlay.set("align", {node:this.helplink, points: overlayPosition});
 
                         var cfg = {
                             method: 'get',
                             context : this,
+                            data : {
+                                ajax : 1
+                            },
                             on: {
                                 success: function(id, o, node) {
                                     this.display_callback(o.responseText);
@@ -1532,7 +1534,7 @@ M.util.help_icon = {
                             }
                         };
 
-                        Y.io(ajaxurl, cfg);
+                        Y.io(this.helplink.get('href'), cfg);
                         this.overlay.show();
                     },
 
@@ -1548,10 +1550,10 @@ M.util.help_icon = {
                 };
                 help_content_overlay.init();
                 M.util.help_icon.instance = help_content_overlay;
-                M.util.help_icon.instance.display(event, args);
+                M.util.help_icon.instance.display(event);
             });
         } else {
-            M.util.help_icon.instance.display(event, args);
+            M.util.help_icon.instance.display(event);
         }
     },
     init : function(Y) {
diff --git a/lib/outputrenderers.php b/lib/outputrenderers.php
index 45d9618c84b..4e2d931c3e4 100644
--- a/lib/outputrenderers.php
+++ b/lib/outputrenderers.php
@@ -1944,11 +1944,9 @@ class core_renderer extends renderer_base {
         $title = get_string('helpprefix2', '', trim($title, ". \t"));
 
         $attributes = array('href'=>$url, 'title'=>$title, 'aria-haspopup' => 'true');
-        $id = html_writer::random_id('helpicon');
-        $attributes['id'] = $id;
         $output = html_writer::tag('a', $output, $attributes);
 
-        $this->page->requires->js_init_call('M.util.help_icon.add', array(array('id'=>$id, 'url'=>$url->out(false))));
+        $this->page->requires->js_init_call('M.util.help_icon.setup');
         $this->page->requires->string_for_js('close', 'form');
 
         // and finally span