Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is the case. The problem here is that the experts said in May that this was going to fail because the vents were in the wrong place. The board allowed building to continue and now all the electrical and mechanical stuff and all the oxygen equipment is in there. It runs right through the centre of these operating theatres where the vents are supposed to be. The rooms are complete. The company installing this walked off site. It said that it was not being listened to and that what had been put in place was going to fail the test. It pointed out that there were similar issues in theatres in other areas and that if the board did not deal with them, it would cost it money and there would be delays. Works orders were then issued. On the first test, I do not expect the Minister, in view of his hands-off approach, to know about the ventilation, but when the shit hits the fan, we have to raise with him the fact that there are serious issues in terms of major generic flaws that could cost us more in taxpayers' money or delay the project. The Minister should be taking a hands-on approach. He should not be relying on documents we may or may have. He should have all of them at this stage. He should be asking the board why it ignored this in May, October and November, when it got the letter and why it did not just carry out the test in March of this year. The first test is about whether it was installed correctly, which nobody ever disputes. The second test is whether it works, which was failed in this case. That is why a stop order was issued two months later and the contractors were told to go into conclave to try to figure how we deal with this. There is no design change to the rooms. Of course there is no design change. Nobody knows how to fix it at the minute. That is why the workshops are taking place. Does the Minister not accept that, or is he telling me that he was in the dark about this, that he has his head in the sand and that he has not looked for any of this documentation about what is really going on in respect of this project?