Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board is a special purpose public body established in 2007. It is responsible for the planning, design, construction and fit-out of a new children's hospital located at the St. James's Hospital campus in Dublin and of two new paediatric outpatient and urgent care centres based at Tallaght and Connolly hospitals.

Following completion, the hospital and the units will be operated by a separate agency, Children’s Health Ireland, which was formally established on 1 January 2019.

It is noteworthy that the new outpatient and urgent care centre located at Connolly Hospital has been commissioned and became operational in mid-2019.

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board is funded by State grants provided by the Health Service Executive. In 2019, such funding amounted to just under €200 million. The board’s statement of financial position indicates that, as at the end of 2019, the cumulative value of the assets under construction was €422 million, inclusive of VAT. This was the position after transfers valued at €34.9 million and €2 million to the HSE and Children’s Health Ireland, respectively. These relate to the transfer to the HSE of the newly constructed building housing the outpatient and urgent care centre, located at the HSE’s Connolly Hospital, and the transfer of specialist equipment in the Connolly unit to Children’s Health Ireland.

The 2019 financial statements were certified by me on 17 June 2020. The financial statements were qualified on the basis that, following the directions of the Minister for Health, the hospital development board accounts for pension liabilities only as they become payable. This does not comply with the requirements of the financial reporting standard, which requires that financial statements recognise the full costs of retirement benefit entitlements earned in the period and the accrued liability at the reporting date. Other than the pension accounting, the financial statements give a true and fair view of the board’s financial position at the year end, and of the transactions during 2019.