Mr. Jim Breslin:

I agree that we should. There are two options. Potentially there is scope to do something that is shared across Government. There are different examples of that in different jurisdictions. However, even if that was the case, for me as Accounting Officer, I would be of the view that we should enhance our own capability. HSE Estates is very expert in this area but it could do with additional resources in light of the type of investment we intend to make over the next ten years. The reason I say that is because when I was a lot younger, I joined the Department of Health and we had a hospital planning office that had architects, quantity surveyors and procurement expertise. They were involved in project teams. That was no longer consistent with the role of the Department when the HSE was set up. We moved all of those staff out to the HSE and we have not been involved in the day-to-day work of project teams. As a result, we lack somebody with experience of infrastructure who can sit above it and say "I know projects, I know what can go wrong and here are the things I want to try to ask questions about." I would like to see that in the Department in the future and I have made that case.