David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps I could just come back in. This project strikes to the heart of the credibility of the State in relation to how it funds and delivers big projects. There have been acres of coverage on this children's hospital and all of its failures. My focus is on getting the hospital built. I want it built for children. I publicly called on the contractor to do what is right and resource the project, but there has to be political accountability and political responsibility as well. I had put it to the Minister consistently over the course of two years, including every time the board came before us, that the Minister needs to take a more hands-on approach, that the Minister's job is to protect the public interest and get stuck in the middle of it, and to meet everybody that needs to be met. Yet it was only last week, or a number of weeks ago, when the Minister reached out to the parent company. Since the board was before the committee last June 16 months have passed. Completion dates have come and gone. Not one single room is finished to the appropriate standard. Nobody has confidence that the June deadline will be met. Additional money has been signed off by the Cabinet. Why in God's name did it take the Minister that length of time to actually meet with the parent company and do what I was asking him to do for the best part of two years, which is to do his job as Minister for Health, protect the taxpayer and actually get this moving? If the Minister is not stuck in the middle of it and if he is a bystander watching on and commentating on what is happening, it is no wonder that the contractor was running rings around us, as the board is suggesting. Why did it take the Minister so long? Was it just because there was an election coming and he wanted to tick a box "I need to meet the contractor" to show that he had done everything? Why did it take the Minister, so long to reach out to the parent company?