Results 19,201-19,220 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Deputy Chambers asked about the issue of capacity. What I meant by positivity was that the HSE officials, and I can single out Damien McCallion in particular, who were before this committee last week have worked night and day to try to identify additional capacity. They have assured me that it is not an issue of funding but of a shortage of cytology around the globe. For the first time...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Certainly I will check that and I am happy to discuss the matter privately with Deputy Chambers. I will check it and come back to the Deputy in writing. I fully accept the bona fides of the reasons the Deputy is raising these issues. It is a particular challenge in the part of the country where Deputy Chambers comes from. I fully accept that for the reasons outlined by her. My clear...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: It is 33 weeks, absolutely. I am telling the Deputy today honestly that the HSE is actively involved in trying to find additional capacity to rectify that problem. I will come back to the Deputy and the committee as soon as I have further news on that.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: No, I will answer the question a different way. I have spoken about the error I think I made before. I am not sure it would have worked if I had tried this but, however long I am in politics and however long after politics, I will always regret that I did not request a bit of time. We were operating. I have to take the findings of the Scally report on board too. I respectfully suggest...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I will do that now.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Absolutely. My officials will look at that and see how it compares with our briefing note and how we can produce something further.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I will respond briefly. I will provide the email to the Deputy, having already given him the content of it. The email states that the named individual, having spoken to Jerome and Gráinne, felt it was important to make me aware of the key risks arising from such an open access policy. It then lists the risks, all of which were readily identifiable to my Department. It stated that we...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I did not receive, and my Secretary General and the director general of the HSE told the committee that I did not receive, any contrary advice prior to making the decision. The overriding point I make is that with the unique circumstances that we were facing, this was going to arise and women were going to seek repeat smear tests. How we dealt with that was the issue.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Deputy Donnelly is still criticising the decision. I do not accept the difference because there is not a difference between the chief medical officer and me on this matter. The Deputy is still criticising that decision, which he believes is wrong.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: A decision can only be made at a point in time. At the time I made the decision, I believed it was the appropriate decision. The Deputy and I have different views on this.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: The Deputy has asked an important question, and I will have to check what conversations were held with PwC. I did not have any direct conversations with it. I accepted the Dáil motion as I believed it was an honest attempt by the Deputy to ensure that we had robust terms of reference, and I accepted a number of his changes to and suggestions on the terms of reference. I have been...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I will discuss that with PwC and revert.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I have to seek clarity on that; I do not want to mislead the Deputy. I will make the point that PwC was acting as a financial auditor, and the decision to locate the site was not entirely a financial decision. Nobody has ever suggested otherwise. There are different views, and I accept that. People watching this will have different views from the Government. However, the decision was...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: They are two separate issues. On page 4 of the report PwC comments on the two-stage process. Many people raised questions and asked whether it was the right process to use. It is one of the things PwC looked at. It said: "The two-stage procurement process used to award the contract for the construction of the children's hospital is a widely used approach and can deliver significant...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: That is the two-stage approach.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: It is not entirely accurate to say that my Department said that there was no further risk to the taxpayer from the guaranteed maximum price. That is not what the Government was apprised of. My comments to the committee were that residual risk was always flagged, particularly in relation to further user changes, but also on the issue of inflation. It is fair to say-----

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: -----that the possibility of residual risk was always highlighted; it is not a total divergence. User changes to the project were always exempt from the guaranteed maximum price. It also includes things outside our control. I do not want to bring Brexit into everything, but the PwC report references the risks it poses in terms of access to supplies. It would be-----

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: There is still far too much risk around future cost rises to this project. The Deputy asked us to ask it if there was a way of reducing the cost of the project. It came back and said that there may be technical ways of doing that, but that the board should be putting its effort into reducing the risk of further cost rises arising from this. That is where the focus needs to be. People...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I accept the report, to be clear, but I am not willing to concede yet on the potential for cost reduction. The report does say that it is technically possible to reduce costs, in both the summary and on page 75. However, there is a caveat that if that was done other difficulties might arise for the project. It says that a value engineering report could be carried out, but it might create...