Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I never said it did not. I just expressed my concern that the head of procurement in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform knew about this and neither the Minister or Mr. Breslin, who is in charge of writing the cheques, did. It is really concerning. He was also chair of the finance sub-committee that reported. I am going backward to where I intended to go. Mr. Breslin is the Accounting Officer. He said that he does not absolve himself and that he takes responsibility. This is the fourth or fifth time I have been at committee proceedings on this issue with Mr. Breslin. He never says anything which there is nothing behind. I understand that he is the Accounting Officer but it seems very clear that he does not think the board was fit for purpose. Looking at its make-up and the way in which members were supposed to be appointed, it seems highly unusual that it would not include a specialist nurse who works in intensive care or, perhaps, somebody who had worked in Crumlin and seen the horrific conditions there or somebody who had worked in one of the other high-tech hospitals across the world about which we have spoken. I understand the Minister appointed the board, but its make-up seems to have been a recipe for disaster. I am very suspicious in respect of the gap between the escalation in costs becoming known and the board being reappointed in July.