Results 3,361-3,380 of 15,555 for speaker:Eoghan Murphy

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for his follow-on question. The political oversight here is clear. It is not correct to state that officials knew that costs were spiralling out of control for a year before this. The issue of the costs in 2017 - the increase in costs of approximately €60 million to €62 million - is a separate issue to what we are dealing with here. We must be very clear...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: As soon as the Minister, Deputy Harris, was informed at the end of August or beginning of September that there was the potential for a significant overrun here compared with the outline figure in 2017, intensive work was done, while the gross maximum price, GMP, process was happening, to crystallise what those costs might be before the process came to an end. When that information was...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: That process began in January in the committee and it continues today; the Minister, Deputy Harris, is now appearing before the committee. PwC is carrying out a report that will get those answers. We will work with the report and those answers and will take further decisions based on what that brings us.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: It is true to say that we face many challenges in our health sector today but we have a fantastic health service. It is fantastic because of the people, doctors and nurses, up and down the country who work on it.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The first issue the Deputy raised was that of the strike action happening at the moment. It is a very serious disruption for patients up and down the country. Tomorrow will see the second full-day strike of this week. Psychiatric nurses are also reducing their hours, and there is also an issue about GPs. We know that nurses are not taking this position lightly because we know how much...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: -----what we have learned from all of that and what we can do to try to save costs now, given what has happened in the past couple of months.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for his follow-up question. At the time in question, the GMP process was still under way, so the full facts of the matter were not established. The responsibility of the Minister when he was informed that there was going to be the potential for this significant over-run - it was only in the August-September period last year - was to establish the full facts.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: I thank the Deputy for the question. This hospital will be delivered and is being built at the moment. The children's hospital is an incredibly important project for this country as we all know.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: It is going to stand the test of time in terms of the families and children it will help up and down the country. Yesterday, the Taoiseach spoke to the many benefits it will bring in terms of services and emergency services it will provide. I think we all agree it is an important project that must be delivered.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Of course people are angry with what they have heard now about the inflation in the costs for the delivery of this project-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: -----and the additional €319 million in capital costs that are going into this project since the original outline for phase 2 was provided in 2017. The Government is angry too-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: -----and that is why we are taking action to get to the bottom of this problem.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: In December of last year, an important decision was brought to Cabinet on the future of this project. Essentially, three options were available. One was to pause the project, meaning even further delay to a project which has been discussed for decades and which the Government is now implementing. The second option was to go out and re-tender the project, again meaning more delay and an...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: If other people would have taken a different decision and put the future of this hospital in jeopardy, I would like to hear that. We believe it was the right decision to pursue this hospital-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: -----to bring about the many benefits that it will deliver for the next 100 years in this country. Now that we are proceeding with the hospital and have the size of the cost overrun in front of us, we need to establish and get to the bottom of how this occurred.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: Was it avoidable? Was there negligence? How do we prevent it from happening again? Can we make cost savings now? That is the process that is under way with the work PwC will do.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: The terms of reference of that review have now been published and we have to get into the process. Alongside that, representatives of both the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Health appeared before Oireachtas committees last week. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, was in committee yesterday and the Minister, Deputy Harris, is in committee today. The Taoiseach has taken...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: We are committed to delivering this hospital because it is so important for families and children up and down the country.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: We want to get to the bottom of exactly what happened here in respect of how these costs inflated over time, who knew what and when they knew it, and what happened as a result. The terms of reference for the PwC report and the work it will do between now and the end of March will bring us back those answers and details. Then we can make decisions as to what happens next.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (6 Feb 2019)

Eoghan Murphy: We know a lot of the costs and what has happened there. What we need to understand is why and, on the admittance of some of the people involved in the project, why some of the early warning systems did not work.