Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Some capital projects do very well and come in on time and on budget. Motorways, for example, routinely come in on time and on budget. That happens because they get it right at the beginning in terms of design, the management of the project and the addition of penalties. There has been a huge amount of learning. We know that lead authorities, for example, should be those that have experience. It seems to me that in this case there is a degree of learning on the job. The estimates were not nailed down at the beginning; we only reached a final figure in November 2018. Things have been left out. For instance, An Bord Pleanála had to insist on a sprinkler system. I would have thought that a facility with 450 inpatients, vulnerable people, would have insisted on the highest specifications to ensure their safety.

I am surprised that the board had to insist on that. The Grenfell fire happened and things were learned from that. However there were changes in the specifications for hand basins and theatre lights. It looks as though there was a rough idea of what was to be completed when the guesstimate was arrived at, then things were changed and there were administration errors such as the failure to include VAT on one aspect. Projects overrun because they are not properly planned or executed and there are failures.

The Department of Health has a limited budget and there will be knock-on consequences. What are the institutional gaps? If the Department was to commence this project again, what could be done to ensure that some accountability or lessons come out of this?