Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That was a good question and I would also like to see the contract.

The PwC report is explicitly clear that, of the nine organisations it interviewed during the process, not one of them included representatives of the Connolly for Kids group, or any of those senior clinicians who have campaigned and forensically deconstructed the arguments for St. James's Hospital for years. PwC did not interview one sick child or a parent of a sick child. Why?

What is most revealing is that PwC, in its recommendation, stated it considered and agreed with recommendations made by Mazars in its reports relating to cost escalation and governance. The recommendations PwC went on to set out were not to replace the recommendations of Mazars. What was the point in throwing good money after bad? We have effectively paid more than €600,000 to find out what we already knew from Mazars.

The PwC report also recommends what it calls ownership as a lesson that should be learned. There has been no ownership whatsoever.

Professor Chris Fitzpatrick was before the Committee of Public Accounts last week and his presentation was absolutely stark and a reminder of the farcical history of this project. He reminded us that, on 7 November 2012, Dr. James Reilly, then Minister for Health, announced that the children's hospital was to be developed on a site in St. James's Hospital. At that time there was no reference to the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital. It is scary.

We talk about babies in Tuam and Sean Ross Abbey in Tipperary. Professor Fitzpatrick, addressing the committee, referred to the more than 200 critically ill newborn infants who, every year, within hours of birth, are transferred between the Dublin maternity hospitals and the children's hospitals in Crumlin and Temple Street University Hospital for highly specialised emergency interventions. Professor Fiztpatrick went on to say that the mortality in this group of babies ranges between 5% and 18% depending on the complexity of their illness. He further said that this number is set to increase with increased availability of prenatal autonomy scans nationwide and more referrals coming from Northern Ireland. Mothers from around the country are delivered in Dublin to reduce transit times for their babies after delivery and because of the dangers associated with transport after birth. The consequences of delivering without the benefit of a prenatal diagnosis, planned delivery and proximity to tertiary paediatric services are grave.

Professor Fitzpatrick has told the Government that this will happen. I received a reply to a parliamentary question from the Minister.

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