Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Devane mentioned the whole area of capital projects and the priorities of his board. We have had discussion with various groups. People have appeared before the committee with regard to certain projects that were resolved around maybe the lack of beds in a particular area or whatever. One would imagine that there would be common agreement across the system. Whatever way we have our system, however, in the first instance people need to get approval - it may be political approval - within the system. There is a tendering process and there is a construction process.

With regard to the board, does Mr. Devane share the frustration of many members of the committee and many of the groups that come in here with regard to these projects? For instance, we have challenges around basic questions like how much it will cost and when it will be finished. One of the repeated frustrations people express is that we keep making the same mistakes we have made in the past. I am particularly talking about construction projects and so on. Again, the question is about whether Mr. Devane and the board share that frustration. Are there ways of improving? Do we look at other jurisdictions? I am thinking of the national children's hospital to give one example, but not exclusively so. We do not know when it is going to open and what the cost will be and so on. Representatives are appearing before the Committee of Public Accounts tomorrow. That is just one example, but there are others, for example, the local hospital in my area. We were told that the problem with the accident and emergency department is down to the lack of beds in the system. The hospital put forward proposals for an additional 72-bed unit that would not interfere with the running of the hospital. It seems a no-brainer, yet until it got approval, it seemed to be a very long process. Is there a way of the system itself speeding up the process for examples like that? That is really the question I am asking. Is the system capable of accommodating the change that needs to happen more quickly?