Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have praised the Minister for Health in the past when praise was due to him but I cannot praise him on this occasion. The speech he has read - I do not think he wrote it - is an insult. The Minister has not dealt with any of the issues raised in the report we are discussing, which cost over €500,000, or indeed by PricewaterhouseCoopers in a previous report.

I will come back to the conflict. I suggest that the Minister should read pages 1 to 30 of the Official Report of the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts on 8 October 2015, which was before my time on the committee. The members of the hospital development board who appeared before the then Chairman of the committee, Deputy McGuinness, pointed out that lessons had been learned. Some €35.5 million had been written off from the previous debacle. Members of the new board, which had been appointed in 2013, told the committee that lessons had been learned. I wish I had time to read all the extraordinary things that were said at the committee, such as the statement: "Unfortunately, we cannot rewrite history, but we have to learn and make sure that in every step we make along the way, in respect of any of perceived weakness in the decision-making processes during the five years, we [will take all] the steps." It goes on and on for 30 pages. The committee was told about the "expertise" of the group board, which was chaired by the then president of NUI Galway. As Deputy Kelly has said, other committees were put in place as well.

The Minister might get an idea of why there is a problem when he hears that the Committee of Public Accounts was told in 2015 that a total of €650 million had been committed, comprising €200 million from the national lottery and €450 million from the Government. In response to a question he was asked, Mr. John Pollock said:

The €650 million is the all-in cost. It includes VAT, inflation, contingency sums and the project cost. There are equipping costs and design fees. There are a whole load of other costs. That is not the construction costs. The construction costs are for both the main children's hospitals [and so on].

It does not really make sense. What I take out of it is that €650 million was the figure. Some Secretary General who appeared before us told us that there will probably be no change out of €2 billion.

Then the Minister made a speech telling us the children deserve a good hospital. We know what children deserve; we do not need to be told. What we want from the Government is an explanation as to how this debacle could have happened.

The Government commissioned PwC to produce a report. Nowhere does the firm tell us it was tasked by the board to produce a review. This came to the fore at a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts. Before the Minister ever commissioned PwC, PwC gave advice to the board. It is an extraordinary coincidence that, in both cases, it came to the same conclusion that it was not asked for and that was not in the terms of reference. Page 8 states, "At this point, taking any alternative course of action other than continuing would in all likelihood result in significant delay." PwC had already concluded this on behalf of the board, well before the Minister commissioned it for over €500,000. It is extraordinary that this conclusion was not envisaged in the terms of reference. The Minister might comment on this. The terms of reference were very specific. PwC was certainly not asked anywhere in the terms of reference to give the conclusion in question. There is absolutely no evidence for the conclusion.

The findings are damning. We see a steering group and ambiguity regarding its role. We see a public spending code not being complied with. We see there were material errors in the business case and we see many more mistakes. Then we see a board reappointed. The board was reappointed by the current Minister, or some other Minister, when all these problems were evident. What jumps out for me is the insufficient scepticism and challenge from a board regarding the information coming before it.

I have a list of reports received by the Committee of Public Accounts in addition to the one that cost €500,000. The Minister is appearing before us tonight telling us the children deserve a hospital. What children deserve is honesty and accountability in this Dáil so other children, such as those who live in Galway and are dependent on the hospital there, will get a good service and so funding will not be cut.

See this speech in context