Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste says the PwC report gives us a clear explanation of what happened here. I do not agree. The children's hospital problems are about construction contracts, cost management, cost measurement and general construction. I am wondering why the Government gave a crowd of accountants, who know nothing about construction, the job of reviewing it. Why did it not engage a construction and procurement lawyer with international experience and a top professional quantity surveying team from outside the State? Was the Government afraid it might not like the answer?

In the introduction to the report, PwC states that the scope of its work was limited to a review of documentary evidence made available to it and interviews with selected stakeholders and project personnel. It states that PwC has taken reasonable steps to check the accuracy of information provided to it but "we have not independently verified all of the information provided to us relating to the services". That is not to talk about the stuff they did not get. This is not an independent report; the authors are saying so themselves.

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