Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I disagree with the Senator's claim that our general procurement policies are not working. Where we may differ is I do not think she envisages any role for the private sector in delivering projects, but I do. The tendering process we have used, which has worked a lot of the time for schools, primary care centres and road projects, involves the State tendering for the best value and then using its resources to deliver projects. While I accept and acknowledge the great difficulty with this phase of the national children's hospital, I can point to many other projects delivered through use of the private sector that have worked.

For me one of the key learnings arising from the national children's hospital is that we need to be more aware that if we set project prices at a particular point in the economic cycle, as we complete the actual tendering process, perhaps after several years there can be a very big variance between what we thought it would cost and what it ends up costing. The degree of cost inflation in this project will have consequences for other projects in the future.