Results 20,161-20,180 of 45,789 for speaker:Simon Harris
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: It is my view that €1.4 billion, which will be the capital cost, is what is required to deliver this state-of-the-art hospital. My frustration relates to how we got to this point when the Government expected the cost to be €983 million.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: It is a different point. If the Government had thought-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: I do. I wish it could be cheaper, but I do.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: If I did not, the Government would not have pressed "Go" and proceeded with construction. The Government of which I am a member cannot make a collective decision to go ahead with a hospital if it does not think it is a good decision to make. Of course, the other two decisions-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: I believe it represents what is required to deliver this hospital.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: I had three options, namely, pause, retender or proceed. Proceed was the only option with which I could go. The cost of doing so is €1.4 billion. If we can mitigate some of those costs, I would like to do so.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: Yes, but decisions on value and cost are relative to the other decisions made. I had three options to choose from and I believe this decision represented the best value for the taxpayer compared with the other decisions I could have made. That is a fair point.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: Sure.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: No. The point that it will cost less to build than it would in London was in response to the Deputy's assertion that it is going to be the world's most expensive hospital. It is the rebuttal to that point. The AECOM view is that the Deputy's view is not correct. The overrun to which the Deputy refers is a projected overrun. I am not being pedantic about this. The reason I am making that...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: That is what I had to do. I had to choose between those three options.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: Is the Deputy referring to the AECOM report?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: It refers to a children's hospital.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: The assertion is being made that the children's hospital we are building is completely out of sync with any comparable children's hospital in the world. I have heard that a lot. If the Deputy has requested the AECOM report, I hope he is given it. The report does not agree with that assertion. It states that the hospital is expensive but the cost is not out of line.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: The assertion that our stance is dishonest and negative is not shared by all general practitioners or all GP organisations. The Irish Medical Organisation is in negotiations with my Department and the Government. A circular it sent to its members this week referred to the progress made through those negotiations. While some GPs obviously have a different view, and while I do not speak for...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: I am sorry, the Chairman said "negligent" not "negative". I apologise.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: I did not say that. I will have to be slightly cautious about what I am saying because my Department and I have not finalised agreement with the IMO, as the Chairman knows. The IMO certainly said an awful lot about its view of the negotiations in its circular. Its words are there for every GP to see. For the record, while I can be pedantic and careful in my wording, I want to see fees...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: I am not sure about that characterisation and I am not sure it is shared by the GPs who are negotiating on behalf of the IMO. Many of the public servants or anyone working in the public service who had their FEMPI unwound, to use the Chairman's phrase, are doing new and different things as a result of that. What I am saying to GPs, who I am sure are watching this very carefully and closely,...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: The Deputy is making a fair point, although we are not saying contradictory things.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: Sorry, when the Deputy says "you", the law is clear in terms of where the legal responsibility lay. It did not lie with my Secretary General.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion
Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Discussion (6 Feb 2019) Simon Harris: I would be delighted to. I am telling the Deputy how I see it. When we look at the quantities between the detailed design and the outline design, someone did get it seriously wrong. I can put it in more hyperbolic language if the Deputy wishes but that is my view in regard to it.