Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

Members would, perhaps, want to be aware that this letter came from Children's Health Ireland because I drew attention to a non-competitive procurement. This is a subset of all of the procurement that was undertaken by Children's Health Ireland. In the letter it is explaining the circumstances that gave rise to the non-compliance and the steps that are being taken. Where it talks about "tendering completed", it is talking about competitions that were undertaken to ensure that in future there would be compliance there.

In terms of the overall spend, this is a subset of what is being spent within Children's Health Ireland. Some of the points that were made were about the expenses that are involved in the preparation of the hospital to occupy the new hospital and the amalgamation that is under way. There is provision for a significant spend in that area. My recollection is that it is of the order of €300 million. There may be an issue there that would be of interest to the committee such that it might want to call Children's Health Ireland to appear before it to discuss with it the expenditure programmes it is undertaking as part of the preparation for moving to the new hospital.