Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta Stanley, an Teachta Murphy agus na daoine eile ar an gcoiste. I thank the members of the Committee of Public Accounts for this timely report. I note the difficulties they have had. This was a bonkers project from day one. I also note, and this is no disrespect to an tAire Stáit, that the Minister for Health is not here to take this item. There is nothing new with senior Ministers abdicating responsibility. This was the wrong site in the wrong place at the wrong time. Everybody knew that at the time, except a few people within the Cabinet. For different reasons, they wanted to put it there. It is inaccessible at the best of times. I do not know how Deputies travelled out there on their visits. It is inaccessible. I convened two different assemblies on this in the AV room in 2014 and 2015. I salute Jonathan Irwin of the Jack and Jill Foundation, Aisling McNiffe, Dr. Finn Breathnach and others. These are ordinary people who had no vested interest other than caring for the sickest babies in this country and beyond. Their only interest was in ensuring an accessible, state-of-the art hospital was built to look after those very feeble little human beings. That is all they wanted. Their testimonies were there for the Minister of the State, and for anyone else who cared to see, at the time. There were testimonies from ambulance drivers, nurses, parents, and others. They talked about ambulances stuck in traffic with the nurses screaming "how long more" but the drivers not being able to move. Then we built a project with no proper helipad.

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Imagine in this day and age having a helipad on top of a three-storey building in which there is supposed to be a nice ambience, with little noise, for sick children to recover and having helicopters land there. The greed and the egos got in the way.

There is a two-tier contract. I salute former Deputy Mick Wallace for being at those meetings I held. He understood a bit about construction contracts and the two-tier contract that was given to BAM. At the time, BAM International expressed a concern about the low price that BAM Ireland quoted for the hospital. That is a matter of public record. We are where we are. The cost went from €200 million to €400 million, up to €600 million and then to €1.7 billion. Jimmy Sheehan built the Galway Clinic and Blackrock Clinic. He was at the meeting. We had a 70-acre site in Clondalkin with a fine lake in the middle of it. He was asked how much he would build a hospital for and how long it would take. He said that if he had planning permission and a sealed-off site, he would build it for €1 billion or €1.1 billion in approximately 13 months. He was not wanted. He had experience of building.

We are now talking about equipment and fit-out costing €300 million. It will cost three times that much because the estimate is totally out of date. The equipment will be out of date too. Much of this equipment has been bought and is in storage. This is the problem. The fobbing off, cover-up and deceit are disgusting. Deputy Verona Murphy said it is the costliest product in the world since time immemorial, and it is. China built a hospital to deal with Covid in a couple of weeks. This is shocking.

We have not learned anything. I am glad to hear this project is out of the ground and the building is relatively complete. I cannot believe what I heard from Deputy Stanley. I have not read the report in detail. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Government have been talking about green issues and retrofitting here for the past ten years. The report states that there is not a solar panel on the vast roof of the building. We pillory and threaten people. When anybody in local authority housing gives it up or it falls into disrepair, the first thing we do is block the chimney. Taxpayers in this little country of ours are definitely being mistreated, blackguarded and pilfered. All the money we are talking about, from the Department of Health, the HSE and so on, comes out of the pockets of ordinary people. Instead of paying for serious scoliosis operations, orthodontic treatment and cancer treatment that is needed so badly by our people, it is used for other purposes. I do not know why there is not a mutiny or a rebellion among the people. My late brother was a paediatrician of some renown. He dearly wanted to look after children too. That is how I became involved.

The Government and its advisers were shown the way, a slí eile, slí nua, a better way, but they did not take it. They knew it all. The former Minister, Joan Burton, is not blameless either because the site is in her constituency. It is the wrong place. It will never be the right place. You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. This cannot be made into a silk purse. There are serious defects. I have significant worries about the completion of the job. I predicted many times that it will cost €3 billion. A report is available and the Committee of Public Accounts cannot get its hands on the information that it wants from the board. When the contract was signed, there was 7% construction inflation,. The contract dealt with 4%. If that was not a case of snouts in the trough, I have never seen snouts in the trough. There were many snouts in this trough. They are still in it. The corruption and the stench off it is disgusting, when we should be looking after our children and sick people. We should not be going on with a project which is a vanity project for some.

Deputy Verona Murphy quoted the former Taoiseach, now Tánaiste, who is soon to be Taoiseach again. I am not sure what word she used. It was about how the hospital would be built unless a meteorite hit it. There have been false promises and fake platitudes while sick children are waiting for treatment. Surely that must be the most important issue for every Member of this House. We have let this racket continue, with a black hole, for many years. There was nearly a need to evacuate the houses. I saw the buildings nearly falling because the pile-driving beside them had gone so deep. There was mention of 1,038 claims. Do those include the claims for all those houses that were affected by back gardens falling into the hole? Where will it stop? Will it ever stop? Those people's homes should have been and must be protected. We are going ahead today with a fake Bill to address problems caused by mica and defective blocks. It is nothing short of fake. This is another phoney project.

The hospital is in the wrong place and is inaccessible. We were told at the time that the sick babies could come on the Luas. Did any of us here who have children or grandchildren ever imagine bringing a sick baby in their arms on the Luas? People would get into the car if they cannot get an ambulance, which we cannot get either. They might get a Garda escort if they can but they certainly will not get on or off the Luas. We were told at the time that the sick children could come on the Luas. I know of emergencies involving young children in my parish. I thank everyone involved, including the local gardaí who provided an escort, since children needed treatment in our current hospitals in Dublin. Unfortunately, some are not with us today. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha. We see such situations.

Going ahead with this project is nothing short of sinful, if people believe in sin any more. When it is Judgment Day, I do not think the man above will allow this blackguarding to go on. It would not happen in some of the places that we call juntas and cabals, because it would not be allowed to happen. It can happen here with no accountability.

The Minister uses the HSE and the board of the hospital as a big shield. I do not know who is on the board now. I know there were problems and resignations. Fred Barry from the National Roads Authority was on it for a while. We build good roads in this country, on time, with good value for money. Why can we not replicate that in the HSE? Anything to do with the HSE or the Department of Health is seen as a gravy train or cash cow to be milked constantly. Is mór an trua é sin. It is an awful injustice and a disgraceful thing to impose on the sick children of this country and future generations. It is shocking in the extreme.

We have issues with broadband and many other matters in this country. The issues have doubled and quadrupled and the Government says not to worry because the State will pay. Remember that the State is the taxpayers. They are tired with and angry about this. It is not good enough.

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