Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, the new head of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, Mr. Fred Barry, appeared before the Joint Committee on Health yesterday and he answered the questions in full. There was no effort to spin this in any way. This is an honest answer. The position we have is that we know mistakes were made in the early development of this project. The Government has been very open on that, and Ministers have been before the committee on numerous occasions dealing precisely with this. A new approach has been adopted that included appointing a new development board, which is now in place. No project of this scale is going to be risk-free. If the Deputy thinks this can be run without having some risks managed between the State and the contractor, that is not the reality. As the Deputy is aware, one issue in the contract was that if there was construction inflation beyond a certain figure, the State would share some of that risk. That was in the contract. No-one concealed that, and it is not a new revelation that came from Mr. Barry's presentation. That was part of the contract that is in place. In terms of the mistakes that were made, the PwC report issued recommendations, and those recommendations are being implemented. A final plan will be presented as to how we make sure this project is managed in the most effective way, and that is being put in place. The Deputy mentioned that Mr. Barry suggested there were delays in some parts of the works but Mr. Barry equally emphasised that at this point, there are many opportunities to mitigate these delays over the lifetime of the project. While this project is expensive, there is no evidence anywhere that it could be done any cheaper.

In July, we will start to see the project take shape within Blanchardstown, where patients will be treated for paediatric and other needs. This project is going live. Substantial progress is being made on the construction, and it is going to be managed tightly, with tight oversight, drawing on the lessons we have learned. Honestly, mistakes were made. There had not been a major hospital project built in 25 years. One may ask why that was the case, but this one will be managed carefully. Mr. Barry has a very strong track record, and the contract will be managed. Any overruns that have to be paid for by the State, because they fall under the contract, will only be paid after a full audit and due diligence is applied to ensure that we are only paying for provisions that were under the contract. We have to manage that contract tightly, and it will be, but we still have to remember that this is providing state-of-the-art care for very sick children and their families. There will be 23 operating theatres, and it will provide a suite of services for which Members on all sides of this House have been calling for years. It is a project that is worthy of support. We have to manage the costs but we also need to deliver the services for the children.

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