Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Just as I accept political responsibility, as does the Government, the board members have to accept responsibility, which I am sure they do, for the decisions they made. The report is clear, and I agree with the Deputy on this point, that the governance structures need to be strengthened. The board will need to be strengthened and I will act on that as well.

There is also an interesting and important recommendation in the report - I believe it is recommendation No. 11 - about the need for Government as a whole or the public service to get a challenge function for future projects. We are building a children's hospital. I want to build a new national maternity hospital. I want to start that later this year. The Government will want to do the metro project and, I hope, broadband provision. There will be other major projects, and what the report is suggesting, and the good thing about bringing in orders is that they are meant to show us how to improve processes, is that we need to create a more proactive, challenging structure and that we need to have the expertise.

I will give the Deputy an initial view. Since the establishment of the HSE, my Department does not have a building unit. I have a chief medical officer - we have been talking about him - a chief nursing officer and a chief dentist. I am sure I have a chief of other things as well in the Department of Health. I do not have somebody who is a chief construction officer or who can give me an expert view on quantity surveying, QS, and the likes. Perhaps having those functions available would help provide a further layer of scrutiny and challenge. We need to reflect on that. There is a need to strengthen the skill set further in my Department and in other Departments. That is not to be disrespectful to anyone in the Department.

I and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will take the four weeks. We would welcome the committee's input and we will be back to Government, ultimately, to publish an implementation plan-----