Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

On the national children's hospital, we had a response from Mr. Watt to questions we posed on 15 January in which he dealt with some of the issues involved. He provided a table relating to the drawdown prior to construction. We all know there have been problems with construction delays over the years and that there is now a higher level of inflation than previously. That was partly a consequence of the contractor not having sufficient people on site. Even last year, according to its minutes, that was a criticism of the NPHDB. The contract goes two ways. I keep on asking a question about the obligation on the other side, which has breached its contract by not completing on time and, as a consequence, costing the State money. What effort will be made to make sure that this aspect is addressed in the final cost?

In his reply, Mr. Watt referred to the capital funding being prioritised and that there is a priority list in descending order. First, it would be very useful to have that priority list because the overrun will obviously impact on other projects and it would be important for us to see them. Could Mr. Watt provide that? Will there be a contractual liability on the contractor's side for non-completion within the timeframe?