Results 421-440 of 8,015 for speaker:Jonathan O'Brien

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

Jonathan O'Brien: Does the Minister believe the terms of reference for those groups were limited? The report states that the groups did not have the ability or the experience to question some of the decisions being taken. The groups could only monitor the information provided to them. If that is the case, does the Minister think that was a failing when the legislation was being developed and the terms of...

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

Jonathan O'Brien: The report recommends against that.

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

Jonathan O'Brien: That is one of the questions I was going to ask. The report states the Minister should not have a complete clear-out of the board because it would lose that corporate memory. It also states, however, that the Minister needs to strengthen the board by adding expertise and competency to the board. How does the Minister propose to do that given there is only one vacancy on the board at the...

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

Jonathan O'Brien: To whom was the steering group responsible? I am referring to the information passed by the development board up to the steering group. Where does it go after it reaches the steering group?

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

Jonathan O'Brien: Yes.

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

Jonathan O'Brien: And timely information.

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

Jonathan O'Brien: I agree with the Minister. Where we have a difference of opinion, and where I have a difficulty, however, is that the Minister appointed the board.

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

Jonathan O'Brien: The Minister put that expertise on the board. That board was tasked with the responsibility of bringing this project to fruition within budget. If there were failings of the board, then those have to be laid directly at the feet of the Minister. I do not know if the Minister accepts that responsibility and those failings. I am firm in my belief, however, that the political accountability...

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

Jonathan O'Brien: This is the board-----

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

Jonathan O'Brien: The Minister did not really have an option.

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

Jonathan O'Brien: Let us be fair. The report was very clear. The Minister did not have an option at that stage.

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

Jonathan O'Brien: The difficulty is that by the time the Minister was in a position to make that decision, it was too late to do anything else because of the failings that had happened previously.

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

Jonathan O'Brien: We could have retendered at an earlier stage if we had been aware of the issues that were coming down the line.

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

Jonathan O'Brien: The big issue for me, and it is nothing personal in terms of the two people sitting on either side of the Minister, is that, to the best of my knowledge, both Mr. Desmond and Mr. Breslin were on the steering committee. They became aware in April that there was an issue with a potential cost overrun. Ms Tracey Conroy asked for a memo to be sent to the Minister in, I believe, May. That memo...

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

Jonathan O'Brien: I understand that.

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

Jonathan O'Brien: I accept that.

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

Jonathan O'Brien: Despite all of that, and this is my final comment, we had an official from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform sitting on that particular board. That raises even more concerns for me given the position he held within the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and what this report states in terms of the information that was coming forward to the steering group and the ability...

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

Jonathan O'Brien: We may not have that expertise but we have a building control policy framework. We have many layers of oversight outside of individual Departments.

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

Jonathan O'Brien: I am reluctant to do so but I will go back to the CervicalCheck issue. Can the Minister outline say what would have happened if the free smear tests had not been offered at that time?

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

Jonathan O'Brien: I presume medical criteria had to be met for a doctor to decide whether to refer a woman for a repeat smear. Perhaps the Chairman can answer that question.