Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am not sure what the Deputy means. We are here. Gabh mo leithscéal. That is why it is galling to listen now to the concern that has suddenly developed around this process. We had two chances to stop the madness at the national children's hospital and we chose not to. The Taoiseach said on Tuesday that the Board of the NCH and the entire process is subject to sufficient levels of oversight. That comment is almost comical. What planet is he on? Who believes him? Nobody. We saw the farce around the PwC report in April. That review of the escalation in costs associated with the national children's hospital project demonstrated a glaring political unwillingness to pursue any kind of meaningful accountability. In fact, that report, like the site of the national children's hospital itself, will prove to be nothing more than a black hole into which we have poured significant amounts of public money for no good purpose.

The PwC report was clear the nine organisations interviewed during the process did not include Connolly for Kids or any of the senior clinicians who have campaigned and forensically deconstructed the arguments for St. James's for years. There was not a single interview with any of the tens of thousands of families affected. It is shameful.

However, what is most revealing is that PwC, in its recommendations states: "We have considered and agree with recommendations made by Mazars in their reports relating to cost escalation and governance" and that the recommendations in the PwC report do not replace them. Effectively we paid out €600,000 plus to find out what we already knew. This is scandalous. It will go down as one of the worst parts of the Minister’s legacy. I have said before that he is the worst Minister for Health ever in this country. He should hang his head in shame. I believe from media reports the Minister is chomping at the bit to have an election because he wants to get out of his position so quickly: he wants to run away and leave the mess.

Dr. Jimmy Sheehan and Dr. Finn Breathnach, Dr. Róisín Healy, and John Irwin and the Jack and Jill Foundation, ambulance drivers, nurses and families have all warned the Minister about this site.

I have a new grandchild, Cathal, born last week, thanks be to God. The greatest shame for rural politicians, and it is why we tabled this motion, is that none of our grandchildren will ever get into that hospital because they cannot access it. They will not be able to get near it. There is no helipad. It is a crying shame. Dr. Finn Breathnach and Dr. Jimmy Sheehan said they would build the hospital for €1 billion, and had a greenfield site of 100 acres. It would have had three helipads, a lake and an ambience in which children could recover. This is a kip inside the centre of a city which has no room for it. It will never come out of the black hole and will probably never finish. The Minster thinks he can run, but he cannot hide because the people of Wicklow know all about him and they will be waiting for him. This election is imminent. They will give the Minister his answer. He is not accountable to anyone. He can laugh all he wants, but this is a travesty for the sickest of children and the families who are so desperate for care for their little loved ones. He treats them like this with a vanity project which has gone through three Ministers for Health, Senator James Reilly, the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, and the Minister himself. They all say it is a wonderful project but there have been comparisons made with hospitals all over the world. It is five times as dear as anything that has been built and is in the wrong place and it will never be right. It cannot be accessed by car, by bus or ambulance, getting stuck in narrow streets. The houses around the site are all damaged and undermined. Local people are horrified with the project and the disruption. The real crime is that there is no helipad. Imagine that in this day and age, yet they say it is the most modern hospital of all time. It is a vanity project and a disgrace. The people who I represent in Tipperary will never use it because they cannot get into it. They need it badly but they will not be able to access it because of the lack of a helipad. It has a small helipad for a small helicopter on the side of a third floor building where, when there is a windy day, one cannot get near it. Imagine the noise and the disruption to sick patients from the sound of a helicopter landing outside the window. It is a disgrace and a travesty. This is a rotten legacy which the Minister will have to his name. How he will be proud of it, I do not know, but the people of Wicklow will give him his answer when they get to him very soon.

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