Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Mr. Breslin and Ms Duffy for giving of their time.

It is an understatement to say the public, healthcare professionals, patients and patient groups and their families are furious about what they are finding out about the cost overruns on the hospital project. I am being asked three main questions. First, how was it allowed to happen? Second, why is there apparently zero accountability for what has happened? Third, what can be done now that we know what we know? These are the three questions into which I would like to get with the Minister.

On the first question as to how it was allowed to happened, I disagree with the Minister on the figures. This is not about a cost overrun of €450 million. That is just the latest cost overrun. It is a fact that in April 2016 the Taoiseach who was then the Minister for Health stated on the "Six One" news programme that the total cost of the children's hospital, including VAT, contingencies, inflation and satellites, would be €650 million. Some four weeks later he was Taoiseach. If we go back to the 2016 documents, that is the figure we see. It had crept up from approximately €400 million to approximately €650 million. When it reached €650 million, the then Minister stated that was what the cost would be. Two years later it was €1.7 billion. We can argue about the roundings, but the total increase between 2016 and 2018 was approximately €1 billion and there will be no single extra bed provided. In a normal hospital it costs approximately €1 million to commission a bed. In a normal country, building normally priced hospitals, €1 billion would provide 1,000 hospital beds. We are getting none.