Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá rudaí ag dul in olcais ó thaobh an bhreithiúnais atá déanta ag an Rialtas ó thaobh ospidéal náisiúnta na bpáistí. Tá na hamlínte sínte amach arís agus tá an buiséad imithe suas go dtí níos mó ná €1 billiún. Tá an cuma ar an scéal, ón méid a dúirt an bord leis an choiste oireachtais inné, nach bhfuil deireadh ar bith leis an scannal seo. Is é an cheist atá ann ná cad atá an Rialtas ag déanamh leis na héilimh ar chostais bhreise uilig atá curtha ar an mhéar fhada? Cén uair a bheidh an togra seo críochnaithe? Cad é an machnamh is déanaí maidir leis na costais dheireanacha?

Eight months ago, the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board made a commitment to provide the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health with the revised cost and timeline of the national children's hospital. This project is years overdue and has overrun by more than €1 billion. It has been a shambles from the start. In 2019, it was described by the Tánaiste as a "debacle". Yesterday, the board was not able to give details of the time it would take to complete the construction of the hospital, which is not satisfactory. It is unacceptable that the board is not in a position to give clarity about the project's rising costs.

There is a vacuum of transparency and accountability surrounding the development of the hospital. Total claims have risen from 600 to 900. Most have been parked for later settlement, which is just kicking the can down the road. It is a never-ending saga of more claims, rising costs and no completion date in sight. The sketchy information that the board provided indicates that we are looking at the second half of 2024, if not 2025, as the earliest date on which the hospital will be in a position to open its doors. When will it be completed? Does the Government even know?

We should not lose sight of the root causes of this scandal. Policy failure and ministerial incompetence were at its heart. In 2019, the Government paid PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, €500,000 to review the cost overruns. PwC found that the total cost of the hospital had risen from the original budget of €790 million in 2013 to €1.4 billion by December 2018. PwC was of the view that, in 2019, the all-in cost would be €1.73 billion. That is some overrun. PwC found that the overspend was a direct result of "Significant failures [that] occurred during the crucial planning and budgeting stages of the project." That did not happen this year or last year, but from 2014 to 2019. The Tánaiste was the Minister for Health between 2014 and 2016. It was he who stood over a two-stage procurement process despite knowing it was untested, with significant risks. He was followed in that ministerial position by the current further and higher education Minister, Deputy Harris, who was informed by the Department of cost overruns of as much as €391 million in August 2018. He failed to share this information with his Cabinet colleagues, including the Minister for Finance.

This is a mess, but there seems to be no accountability or transparency. We have no idea as to what the revised additional costs will be, given there are 900 outstanding claims. The hospital board will not provide this information. Will the Minister, as a member of the Government, provide it to the Dáil? Someone in government must know. What action is being taken to rein in costs and bring this project under control? What will be the final cost?

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