Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his questions. My answer is "yes" in terms of access to all the documentation and minutes. It is important we continue to engage transparently with these committees and we will certainly make them available. On 12 June when Fred Barry came before this committee, he pointed out, as did the PwC report and as we all know, that outside the GNP process other issues that can arise, including contractors submitting claims. I am aware, although not of the scale of it, that extra claims have been submitted. I believe this committee has been made aware of that previously also. However, an extra claim does not necessarily result in that claim being paid. The Deputy will remember when he and I were discussing this a number of months ago that a number of claims submitted ended up crystallising into a much smaller amount than was claimed for. Obviously a project of this scale and complexity, the largest construction project ever in our health sector and one of the largest public sector construction projects in Europe, will have claims submitted as the project goes on. It is important the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board can continue to deal with that in a commercially sensitive way. I have no information of a rise in costs other than the fact that claims are being submitted, dealt with and managed, and that is the normal flow of this project.