Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The figure I have seen used, €1.73 billion, includes costs which are separate to the capital costs of building the hospital. I refer, for example, the cost of integrating the three hospitals into one. That is current expenditure. It also includes the electronic health record that we would have been doing in any event - for example, in maternity hospitals - even if we were not building the children's hospital. Interestingly, the overall amount includes €39.98 million which was spent on the Mater campus, largely by Governments prior to 2011 or 2012. When people use the figure of €1.73 billion, they are including expenditure that would have arisen even if the new hospital had never been built. They are including VAT and costs at the Mater incurred by a previous Government in respect of a hospital that was never built.

The Taoiseach should not be pathetic.

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