Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ó Fearghaíl mentioned that his party had not refused any offer of a change. I made an offer to Deputy Martin on a number of occasions to regroup the questions, whether they be about Northern Ireland, Europe, the United States or other issues, but sometimes, as Deputy Ó Fearghaíl knows, they overlap. If one is dealing with a Northern Ireland question, it can be about when I met the British Prime Minister and whether we discussed this, that or whatever, and that has implications for Europe. That is something we can do, but I did say as well, and I repeat the offer today, that if people in, for instance, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin or the Technical Group, such as Deputy Higgins, would prefer to table one priority question each week on an issue that they think is more important for them, I am quite happy to deal with that. In a way, it is kind of not relevant to answer questions about meetings I had with the Lebanese Prime Minister four months ago because of the way they are grouped together. I understand that. Maybe that might be a more efficient way of doing things.

The EMC is not going to come to an end. We will continue with it for the lifetime of the Government. It has been a very effective way of informing Ministers and of knowing the issues as they arise in areas of Government. As Deputy Ó Fearghaíl will be aware, there is also the structure of early warning systems for Ministers in cases where an issue that is likely to arise could become important, controversial or whatever. Most of them actually are controversial. Secretaries General and their Ministers would advise, in my own case the Office of the Taoiseach, that here was an issue that was likely to arise in the next two or three weeks. That is a matter that could be discussed by the Cabinet sub-committee that is relevant to that and I could speak to the Minister directly. Far from sidelining Cabinet, the Economic Management Council, is a very good way of bringing issues right to the centre where the Cabinet will make its decision collectively.

Deputy Adams mentioned some Deputies and the Minister, Deputy White, made a good contribution at the previous Economic Management Council meeting because he has responsibilities in some of those areas and I believe he found it to be effective. I saw some reports of comments by Deputies and Ministers but it is a good way of doing business efficiently, of getting it through and bringing it to the Cabinet, where one tells all the members what are the issues that must be discussed and analysed and on which they must make decisions to move on. It does not lead to a situation in which one has meetings that extend to double digits in terms of hours.

The brief for the national children's hospital was pioneered by the Minister, Deputy Reilly, when he was Minister for Health. The Government put up €200 million from the sale of the national lottery and that added to the existing €450 million in Exchequer funding. Current estimates are that the core hospital at St. James's, as well as the two satellite centres at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown and Tallaght hospital, will be delivered within that allocation. Moreover, this includes the provision for inflation, VAT and contingencies. As the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, has pointed out already, this figure does not include equipment or information and communications technology, ICT, which can be purchased, licensed or leased separately. All these matters are under constant examination to ensure this building, a children's hospital for the children of the island of Ireland, will be equipped to world-class standards. Obviously, the important thing is to get the design brief, get the members in place and get that planning under way.

As Members are aware, if one decides to purchase ICT in 2014, it evolves so rapidly and changes so quickly that what might be deemed to be progressive today is obsolete tomorrow. Consequently, costs must be reviewed and validated as the ICT infrastructure and platforms are defined and agreed. Clearly, there is also a targeting of philanthropic sources and commercial funding streams for supporting certain elements of the project for the children's hospital. This could include car parking and academic and research facilities. Estimates will be reviewed and refined as matters move on. The project brief affirms the intent to provide the most modern, the most contemporary and the best practice facilities in this hospital. Why would it not, as it will be there for many years? That design team is in place, having been put in place by the Minister at the time, Deputy Reilly, and the aim is to make the planning application next year in June 2015. Subject to that planning, the project will be on site at all three locations, that is, at the main hospital on the St. James's campus and both satellite centres at Tallaght and Connolly hospitals, in January 2016. Commissioning for the main hospital is targeted to begin at the end of 2018 and transition of services into the spring of 2019. There is a long way to go on that and a lot of readjustment of what is the most up-to-date evolving equipment and on how to make arrangements to provide for that, in order that people will have the very best equipment in the hospitals we can find.

Clearly, the budget is over for 2015. It was the first budget for seven years in which there were no tax increases, no cuts in services and in which allocations are the way they have been. Obviously, the Government wishes to deal with the urgent priorities in each of these Departments and the Cabinet sub-committees play their part by bringing to the fore issues both for Ministers and for public servants. One can ask why something has not been dealt with or whether an issue has arisen because a particular matter has not been resolved. Evidence of this is the Action Plan for Jobs, which is overseen by my Department and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, and which has brought about a progressive system of clearing away red tape, administrative blockages and things that are only in the way of people doing business effectively. From that point of view, I tend to hold the Cabinet sub-committee meetings on one Monday each month from 8 a.m. right through. Given the small number of committees, the practice used to be that they would meet irregularly and it was not consistent. Therefore, matters began to be delayed for long periods. I find it to be an effective way of providing input to the Cabinet in order that Ministers can then come to the Cabinet and decisions can be formal and can be announced and dealt with.

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