Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 13 July 2021

Public Accounts Committee

National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: 2019 Financial Statement (Resumed)

9:30 am

Photo of Verona MurphyVerona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank to the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board representatives for appearing today. I am not in line with Deputy Carroll MacNeill's questioning simply because, as Mr. Gunning said, his focus is to deliver the hospital. My focus as a member of the Committee of Public Accounts and as an elected representative is to try to make sense of it from the perspective of the public coffers. There is a vacuum in transparency and accountability with regard to the project. There have not been any real answers from the board representatives this morning. I appreciate that we can have commercial sensitivity, but we can take it too far. I believe the board is taking the interpretation in the broadest possible sense in respect of commercial sensitivity. As a member of the committee I believe the information being requested is in the public interest.

When we do eventually see the complete construction of the national children's hospital, the overspend will have a significant impact on other capital projects within the Department of Health. That is a serious concern. Can Mr. Gunning tell me, as there are no competitors in this field, what is the basis of the commercial sensitivity? I do not want a long-winded answer. The board representatives can appreciate that. I imagine the witnesses have been asked this before and we have limited time.