Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I can understand where the Deputy is coming from. On a number of occasions, he has made the charge that I am hands-off. There are many things I can be fairly accused of in my time as Minister for Health, and I have made plenty of mistakes. The Deputy would be hard-pressed to find someone in the Department or the HSE who would have considered what I have done in the past four to five years as evidence of a hands-off approach. Sometimes they would have much preferred a more hands-off approach.

In response to the Deputy's point about the meeting, maybe at some stage in the future he will be having that meeting or similar meetings. It was not the place to begin unpacking the detail around a hugely complex programme of work. Of course, we referenced certain details. However, if we put that on the table and actually got into the nitty gritty of it, we would then be having a conversation about specific rooms not being compliant, why there were not more people over here and change orders, we would have lost the conversation. We need a conversation with the chief executive of Royal BAM to say that the Government is furious about what is happening. There is a long-standing relationship with BAM.

The Deputy will have seen my comments about future EU procurement law. The Taoiseach has publicly made similar points. That is the conversation we need to be having with the parent company. The moment we get into the work of David Gunning and his team, we have lost the opportunity to have the conversation we need to have. That is my view. I fully respect the Deputy has a different view. There is no right answer to this.