Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Let me try this again with the Taoiseach. I have told him that the HSE is now warning about the increasing and unpredictable cost of the national children's hospital. It is of such a scale that the cost will eat up one third, or perhaps more, of the budget and put a question mark over other much-needed infrastructure. It seems that the Minister for Health has a figure. He will not share it, though. Furthermore, he will not go before the Committee of Public Accounts to discuss this matter. That is the wrong move and most unhelpful. Vast sums of money are being spent on a public project that we have been waiting for for more than a decade. Is it 12 years we are over schedule? We are still waiting and it seems the cost continues to mount. If the Taoiseach cannot agree to holding statements on this matter, perhaps the Minister will take to his feet and shed some light on it.

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