Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking the other two questions the Deputy asked and will be brief because of the time restrictions.

The Deputy asked a question about Professor Chris Fitzpatrick's testimony which I, too, read. He was kind enough to send it to me. I am satisfied that the current site can accommodate the maternity hospital, which was the subject of one of the professor's questions. It has been identified in a site master plan for the St. James's Hospital campus that we have in place. The new national children's hospital design incorporates the required operational links with both maternity and adult hospitals.

Professor Fitzpatrick's second request was that we allocate funding as part of the overall project. That is a decision the Government has not made. We have, obviously, allocated funding in Project Ireland 2040 and the ten-year capital plan for the relocation project, but we currently have no plans to bring forward the capital.

I am satisfied that there is no conflict of interest. The HSE responded, I believe in writing, to the Committee of Public Accounts on this matter last week. I have received reassurances from the HSE that there are no conflicts of interests with regard to the review carried out by PwC. I have been answering this question for a number of weeks.

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