Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 16 May 2019

Public Accounts Committee

National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed)

9:00 am

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Thank you. We are back here because, quite clearly, there has been a huge overspend. None of us wants to be here, certainly not the members of the Committee of Public Accounts. I wish Mr. Barry the best. He gave us an opening statement today of four pages. He gave us a history lesson, partly, and he outlined things that have happened. We know that. It is why we are here and why we have this report that cost €500,000. I would expect more than just a little paragraph telling me what Mr. Barry is going to do. I am not personalising this. Before my time on the committee, the board appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts and said this hospital was going to cost €650 million. Committee members were assured that everything was in place - governance, risk assessment, the whole lot. That was in 2015, prior to Mr. Barry's time and my time on the committee. On the last occasion, the board came before us and assured us everything was in place. It takes PwC to tell us that everything was not in place. Presumably, the witnesses have read the report. What did Mr. Barry think of the findings of the report, and I am not asking for any personal views?