Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their contributions and I will respond to the points they made. First, as was acknowledged by Deputy Cowen, these Estimates have gone through their relevant committees. I took the Estimates for both of my Departments to the committee a number of weeks ago and my colleagues did the same with theirs. That means all the Votes in these Revised Estimates went through detailed scrutiny on the many different points that have been raised by Deputies today.

Second, with regard to the discussion that is under way about Ireland 2040 and the national children's hospital, while of course the Deputies and I will always point to what must be improved or changed, as Deputy Burton did, we should also give a degree of recognition to the fact that this is a plan that this year will deliver 6,500 new homes built, 90 new schools, 18 new primary care centres and three major road projects across the State. It is understandable that the House would focus on the great difficulties and what went wrong with the national children's hospital, and the PwC report will be discussed further in the House next week, but I also wish to recognise the progress that the plan is making and the difference it is making to communities and citizens at present.

A further point was made about oversight of different Votes and the status of those Votes. Deputy Broughan referred to the Vote for the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. In deciding that the Vote is flat the Deputy was using as his benchmark the budget of a number of years ago, during a difficult period when the then Minister, Deputy Burton, had many challenging choices to make. In that period Deputy Burton ensured that the social welfare payments for many hundreds of thousands of people who were unemployed did not go down. The Deputy is now evaluating this Vote at a time of almost full employment against a point when we had an unimaginably high level of unemployment. He has to compare that Department's Vote in the context of what was happening in the labour market with joblessness at the time.

Deputy Jonathan O'Brien raised a point about procurement, and I am aware of the number of Bills the House is putting forward in this regard. Officials from my Department met the Deputy to discuss his Bill. They pointed out to the Deputy that we have a genuine difficulty with some areas of the Bill. However, if colleagues, including Deputy O'Brien, wish to be constructive on this and to see if we can build a consensus on whether legislative change is needed in our procurement strategy, I will be happy to meet them and I will do so after Easter to have a discussion about it. One of the many things I have learned about procurement policy is that changes in one area can have many different unintended consequences. I would like the opportunity to talk to the Deputy, and any other Deputies who wish to join us, about that.

Deputy Cowen raised a number of questions about the national children's hospital. I will be discussing this in the House again next week. I have discussed it with the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, and I am due to appear again before the Committee on Budgetary Oversight next Thursday, which might provide an opportunity to discuss it further.

Deputy Burton pointed to the progress we have made in public transport. I am pleased to have been part of a Government that brought the Luas to Cabra and made changes to the Phoenix Park tunnel. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, is involved in many big and positive changes in public transport and he has secured a very high level of funding for that Department. I accept there are difficulties due to congestion and how busy the train and Luas carriages are, but that is the reason I am asking the House to support these Revised Estimates. They contain funding and resources that can make a difference to these problems in 2019.

Finally, in response to Deputy Broughan, in any context or setting it is always great to hear him talk about White Hart Lane.

See this speech in context