Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the question of the rationale, I will repeat it one more time. The Children's Health Act 2018 sets out a new way for the board of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board to appoint members. It identifies a skill set that should be used and it says that no longer will appointments be made in the old way. They will now be made through the Public Appointments Service. Deputy Boyd Barrett voted for it and the Bill was passed in this House. We brought in a new chairman, Mr. Fred Barry, who is doing an excellent job. His appointment was widely welcomed and he is widely respected across this House. The PwC report says that we should not throw out the whole board but look at its composition, augment the skill sets and see what skills are needed going forward. The new chairman will obviously also look at the board, talk to board members to determine who wants to stay on and whether anyone feels that he or she has done enough time and provide opportunities to regenerate the board. Approximately six members of the board decided, having done six years on a very intensive project, that they had done their bit, despite members of the Oireachtas throwing bricks at them and telling them that they should have to resign as members of the board, as many in this House did. They decided that they had done their bit and were going to step down to provide an opportunity, in a new phase of the project, for others to take it to the next level. That is the truth. That is what has actually happened.

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