Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Is everybody happy with that? We will note and publish the correspondence and follow-up.

No. 1209 B is from Mr. Robert Watt, Secretary General of the Department of Health and is dated 25 April 2022. It provides information requested by the committee on the national children's hospital. Our first question concerned controls for delays and sanctions. While the contractual provisions are set out in the response it is not clear whether any damages have been paid by the contractor for failure to complete sections of the project by the agreed completion dates. We might request clarity from the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board. Our second question was on a potential conflict of interest but again the question is not directly answered. I propose that we request clarification from the board as to whether this potential conflict was identified or considered and, if so, whether it was addressed. In relation to the board’s analysis of the projected costs and timelines for the project, we wrote to the Department again and reiterated our request for sight of it and asked that the Department clarify whether it could be provided to the committee on a confidential basis. It is proposed to note and publish this item of correspondence and to request the information mentioned. Is that agreed? Agreed. I propose that we seek clarification from the board as to whether damages have been paid to the contractor with regard to the agreed completion dates. We also asked for clarification from the board as to whether potential conflicts of interest were identified or considered and, if so, whether they were addressed.

There is also the issue of the reply the Secretary General gave at a meeting. We raised and brought to his attention that the commitments given to the committee on 16 December did not align with the response. In the second last and last paragraph of his letter of 25 April he states he does not believe the responses are not aligned and that rather his response reflects the fact he is the Accounting Officer for the Department of Health, and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board is a statutory body under the aegis of the Department. He reiterates his response to confirm this was not a single decision point as to whether the analysis could or should be furnished to the committee but rather the collective corporate fiduciary responsibility of the Department of Health and the development board, cognisant of the confidential and commercially sensitive nature of the contents regarding a live strategically and financially important contract under project 2021. He also states that ultimate responsibility would lie with the Department. I am open to correction on this but my recollection of the previous occasion Mr. Watt came before the committee-----