Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I want to talk about the new national children's hospital, that totem to Fine Gael's legendary fiscal prudence. Between 2017 and 2019, 11 separate reviews and audits of the project were commissioned at a cost of €700,000. An additional report was then sought and PwC carried it out at a cost of €450,000. After 12 reports costing €1.15 million, we have learned that the taxpayer will be very lucky to emerge with any change from €1.7 billion for this project. A further review, by the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board and the Department of Health, has been ongoing since last year, and the Minister for Health was given a draft of it in January. In February, the Committee of Public Accounts was told the report would be concluded within weeks, at which point we would have some clarity on what the budget would be, and we could then expect to discuss that at a meeting of the committee.

There appears to be a new approach now that there is a new Secretary General. A recent letter to the Committee of Public Accounts from Mr. Robert Watt stated, "There is an extremely high likelihood that any discussion on costs or dates, however hypothetical, even from the draft stages of the process, would prejudice enforcement of the existing contract and very likely undermine the role of the Development Board in its ongoing engagement with the main contractor." It is, essentially, telling us to butt out, that it is none of our business. According to Mr. Watt, all of the most controversial information about this project, such as the cost and the timeline, is suddenly too sensitive to publish. What a stroke of luck that appears to be for the Department.

Last year, the Tánaiste told the House that if you want to keep the people's trust, you need to be transparent. He needs to be transparent about this. This is a huge project. When the Irish Independentasked him about the escalating cost of the hospital in 2019, he replied that "nobody will think it a poor investment" when it opens. Does he still believe this? Millions of euro have been spent on reviews and further millions have been spent on consultants and PR companies. Tens of millions of euro have been spent on a botched procurement process and 800 claims have been lodged by the contractor, up from 700 just four months ago. There are children in this country who cannot access basic disability services and others who are awaiting surgeries for scoliosis, yet we are building the most expensive hospital in the world. It is obscene.

Nothing has changed with the spec of this hospital since the estimate was calculated at €900 million. What has changed are the delivery time and the price tag. We desperately need the new children's hospital but did we need to build the most expensive hospital in the world by mistake? Will the Tánaiste practise what he preaches about transparency? Does he have any idea what the cost of the hospital will be or what the timeframe will be? Does he have confidence in the hospital development board to manage the project?

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