Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This morning, the Committee of Public Accounts received a letter from David Gunning, the chief officer of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board - the famous children’s hospital - updating it on project costs. In his letter, Mr. Gunning states that while things are on budget, there are a number of exceptions which have always been outside of the approved budget for which there cannot be price certainty at this point or for the duration of the project. That is the chief operating officer and it sounds like a blank cheque. What brakes has the Government put in place for this blank cheque? How can it be that certain in its assertions around the budget when this provision is in place?

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