Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Is it not the case that the Department of Health and the HSE knew in April 2018 at the latest that there was no figure for the guaranteed maximum price for the second stage of this procurement project? There was no figure and we did not know what figure we were facing. There seems to have been total disagreement between the national paediatric hospital's quantity surveyors and the building contractors, BAM. Surely we knew that the issue existed way back, possibly this time last year, and that we were facing some guaranteed maximum price the size of which we did not know. I recall the Taoiseach speaking first of putting €400 million to €650 million by for this project. Was it a mistake by the Government to put the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform back into the Department of Finance? Would it not have been better if the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, had simply been the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, and able to do his job-----

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