Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is much more than a review and report, which would be inadequate. The Deputy is right to refer to the PwC report from last year. Its analysis was that the national children's hospital involved a substantial overspend and it pinpointed an underestimation of cost. It made two recommendations. One was that we need to strengthen the rules of the public spending code. Further, it stated that we needed an independent, external review of large projects at every stage, all the way through the project life cycle. There was somebody outside the contracting Department who could say "Hold on a second, we need to stop here". Both of those recommendations have happened. The public spending code was updated last year, in 2019, and I advise the Deputy to have a look at that. I met with the officials in charge of the public spending code and I am very impressed by their enthusiasm and ability. Secondly, on large projects of more than €100 million, there will be an external, independent review at all stages of the project life cycle.

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