Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The first point is that my Department does not manage the capital projects of other Departments. It is their responsibility, in line with their legal obligations, to manage those projects, and it is the responsibility of the Accounting Officer to do so. Arising from the lessons that had to be learned from the national children's hospital, the public spending code was strengthened in 2019. I went further than that in the past year by bringing in a new external assurance process that involves setting up a panel of external experts and a new major projects advisory group to advise my Department in respect of major projects that come before us for approval.

On the national children's hospital, as the Deputy is aware, back in 2018 the then Government approved a capital budget of €1.433 billion. This included the capital costs for the main hospital at St. James's, the outpatient departments and urgent care centres at Connolly and Tallaght campuses, equipment for the three sites and the construction of the car park and retail spaces. There were other elements that it did not include, such as the integration and transfer of the services at the three children's hospitals to the new sites, ICT, a new electronic health records system and so on. The figure approved by the then Government was €1.433 billion. That amount has not yet been reached. Approximately €1.1 billion of that figure had been drawn down as of 20 September, so approximately 76% of the approved budget has been drawn down at this point. It is a matter for the Department of Health to manage the project.

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