Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will write back and ask for an update at the end of September in respect of the outcome of the negotiations that are still under way. It is our job to tie this one down. We will ask for that.

No. 2227B is from Ms Rhonda Evans from the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, dated 7 June. We received this a week ago but we are only having our meeting now. It provides a response to matters raised. Some of these issues may been mentioned at yesterday's meeting but I will highlight the points we raised. We will note and publish this. We asked for details on the procurement subcontract committee meetings in 2016 and confirmation that trilocation in terms of the maternity hospital is a key objective. We also asked for a note on consultancy fees in 2018 to include the name of the PR company and the length and total cost of the contract. Q4 Public Relations was appointed in April 2015 and the contract runs until March 2021. In the years from 2015 to 2018, inclusive, it was paid €1,003,593 plus VAT. That might have been mentioned yesterday at another meeting. There is also a note on the decision examined by the board as to whether it would lease or purchase various high-tech hospital equipment. There is a case to be made for both choices. In February 2019, the board recommended reverting to the traditional capital funding approach of purchasing it rather than leasing it for an extended period. We can discuss the merits or otherwise of this. I am sure the board has gone into it in ten times more detail than we could do here. We will just have to accept that it made the best decision it could.

We also asked about the cost certainty. We asked for a note on the design costs of the hospital, including details of the 95% cost certainty of the preliminary design and the difference in the final design costs. We were told the design team gave 95% certainty. The board confirms the main mechanical and electrical construction contracts were received in October 2017 and the adjusted tender was €636 million. In November, the adjusted contract sum was €890 million, which was an increase of €254 million or 40% of the adjusted tender amount. We asked the board to talk to us about how it is dealing with the design team with regard to the certainty it gave, which clearly has not stood up. This issue has not been addressed. We have been given the figure but the hard question has been avoided. We asked whether it was following the company. Certainty of 95% was given but now it is being shown that it did not hold up. I believe the letter states the board is dealing with it but we want a more comprehensive note on what that means at this stage.