James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am dissatisfied with the Minister of State's reply. When the project was officially launched by the Minister, Deputy Harris, in 2017, there was outrage at the suggestion that it could be the most expensive hospital in Europe. Little did we know that the Minister was far more ambitious than that. It now appears that the hospital will be the most expensive ever built in the world. The Minister has the authority in this regard. He controls the Department of Health and he is responsible for addressing the capacity crisis in the health service. He must accept that his performance in the delivery of the children's hospital has not been good enough. We need accountability in healthcare provision and the Minister needs to ensure that value for money is delivered in the context of the expenditure for which he is responsible. The Minister is politically responsible and accountable for this matter. Thus far, however, his response has demonstrated that he is neither.

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