Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important to be honest about what has happened here. I understand the frustration and anger being expressed this morning and on many occasions in this House. We thought we could build a national children's hospital for much less than it will cost. That is what happened here. We unfortunately have seen a process that, until late last year, was proposing that a national children's hospital of this scale could be built for far less than it is going to cost.

This report makes very clear that most of the cost increase relates to a gross underestimate which should have been flagged much earlier and it does point fairly clearly to who was at fault in that regard and we need to learn lessons to ensure that if there are projects of this complexity, and there will be in the future, that this does not happen again. There needs to be a more proactive oversight of projects like this, that is clear. There needs to be more intense scrutiny of projects as the projects move ahead in terms of estimates, design, bill of quantities and so on. That is where this project primarily has failed to date. We now, I think, have a much clearer picture of what this is going to cost and we need to try to ensure that systems are in place to keep the cost within that final estimate that the Government approved in December. That is what happened here. People keep talking about waste and overspend. This money has not been spent yet.

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