Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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There are two parts to that question. First, as I said in my opening statement, there was an awareness across Government, including in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, that the GMP process was ongoing. The fact that there was an ongoing process to finalise the costs for phase B for the national children's hospital was not a secret that I or my Department was retaining. All of Government, and, I would suggest, much of the Oireachtas, would have known that before the contract for phase B of the children's hospital could be awarded, a GMP process was ongoing. Government colleagues knew about that. What was not known, and this is entirely in line with what the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform said yesterday, was what that quantity was going to be. The fact that this process was ongoing was known by my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I would suggest that it was widely known. I did not negotiate specifically on additional funding for the children's hospital but it was always going to be apparent that at some point the Government was going to have to award a contract for phase B, that this contract could not be awarded pending the completion of the GMP process and that the GMP process was ongoing. That was known about more broadly and not just by me.