Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The situation regarding the overrun on the national children's hospital is a catastrophic failure of the Government and those overseeing the project. To tell the truth, the explanations given to the Joint Committee on Health were absurd and farcical. We know that the original tender from BAM was €131 million lower than the nearest competitor. Did nobody in the Department raise how the tender price came in €131 million lower than what anybody else could build the hospital for? I recall the now Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, suggesting at the time that the project could come in below cost. Given that we know there is an overrun of more than €1 billion, which could increase further, what is needed now is accountability and a full, open, transparent public inquiry into how the project got completely out of control and who is responsible to make sure that it never happens again with public money.

See this speech in context