Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 1 February 2024

Public Accounts Committee

Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 38 - Health
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 18 - Health Service Executive Funding and Financial Reporting

9:30 am

Mr. Derek Tierney:

Yes, in theory. As far back as 2018 and 2019, however, PwC's independent report gave a very good overview of the contract, the early stages of planning, project design, etc. That is well recognised since 2018 and 2019, and our inflationary environment kicked in in 2021 and 2022.

The question of liability is the nub of the issue. The contractor was obliged to deliver by November 2022, which has obviously passed. This is the subject of the engagement between the board and the contractor in terms of liability, faults, and claims. We are trying to work our way through that. The board has got to engage with the contractor and get this job finished as soon as possible. That is the ambition. That has to be the objective. The other approach could be to turn this into a very adversarial and litigious engagement but that would take longer.