Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We learned as we came into the Chamber that in September senior officials in the Department of Health were aware that the cost overrun was reaching a figure of €391 million.

It is reported in The Irish Timesand on RTÉ. The minutes are there. We will have the copy when we leave this Chamber. Senior staff of the Department of Health knew that the overrun of that project was €391 million in September. A month later, with the Minister for Health sitting beside him, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, delivered a budget to this Chamber under false pretences because somebody knew, at least senior officials knew, at that stage that there was a massive hole due to the overrun on expenditure on the children's hospital. We are asked to believe that a number of senior staff in the Department of Health did not tell their Minister. We are then asked to believe that the Minister, Deputy Harris, did not tell the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, who was in negotiations with him during the budget, and then we are told that we must wait for the PwC report.

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