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

I agree with both Deputies. The issue I am concerned about is that we were told that we are more than 70% of the way through this contract and there is no final price. We do not even have a ballpark figure for the final price. We have made numerous efforts in respect of this matter. It is two years and three months since we started trying to shed some light on it. If a person was three quarters of the way through building a house and still did not know the final price, it would not be a good place to be. I am not too sure what you would tell the bank in such circumstances. The bank in this case is of course Joe Public. I suggest that we write to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to ask whether it knows what will be the final cost. We do not know; we are not being told. As Deputy Carthy correctly stated, the letter dated 14 October 2022 indicates that in light of the fact that a commercially sensitive contract is in operation, any queries about final costs of the project should be directed to the Department of Health. I propose that we write to Mr. Moloney to ask whether he knows and also write to the Secretary General of the Department of Health, Mr. Robert Watt. Mr. Watt was the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform when this contract for the national children's hospital was put in place. I propose that we ask them whether they know the final figure and if they are satisfied with it. Is it acceptable to do that and to include reference to the other issues we have already discussed?