Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to be clear about this matter. First, I devised the strategy of ring-fencing because I was searching desperately to find where I could get a significant lump of capital to undertake this flagship project the nation desires, namely, the new national children's hospital. I did not wish to dip any further into the national capital programme and I note the Deputy has been highly critical of my earlier curtailing of it. Consequently, this option seemed to be a very good fit. It is not privatising because under European Union law, the Government is obliged to have competitive tendering for the licence in any event. It may well be that the current licenceholders will win that competitive bid on their own or in a new alliance with someone else. That is one possibility and I do not wish to prejudge any of that. In fact, I have no hand, act or part in the process and I have made sure of that from the outset.

However, my point with regard to an escrow account or a ring-fenced account is that I wish to ensure this sum of money is available to build the children's hospital. How that is to be done is a work in progress because the Deputy is correct. I assumed, when I made the decision, that planning for the original site would go swimmingly and that construction would be under way next year. I believe the country would have applauded getting on with it, whatever one's views about whichever site might be. Ultimately, I am agnostic in respect of the site but I desire the construction of a national children's hospital for the benefit of all the children of the country.

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