Results 11,021-11,040 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I can understand why the Deputy might view it that way. All I can do is tell him clearly that is not the case. That is absolutely not what is going on here. There is nothing I would like more than for all of this to be resolved as quickly as possible, as I am sure the Deputy can understand. All we are doing is saying there is a large amount of money under dispute and we need to leave the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I will look into that. It might be there are some commercially sensitive issues that cannot be released, but my default position is things should be transparent. As long as there is no commercial sensitivity, minutes should be provided. I will ask the Department to look into that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Does the Cathaoirleach mean the original estimate-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Yes, I am very happy to go back to respond to those comments and I thank the Cathaoirleach for all of them. I want to be clear that in respect of reputations, I was, of course, not impugning this committee in any way. It is interesting that the Cathaoirleach referred to the secret recordings of civil servants in the Department of Health over a protracted period. That is a good example....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Of course not, and I am not suggesting that, but if any of us were secretly recorded by our colleagues for two years, and if someone took some of the things we had said as stand-alone comments and those comments appeared on the front pages of newspapers, I imagine none of us would come out looking terribly well. I have a real issue with the fact that officials in my Department were recorded...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: That is-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank Deputy Doherty for his questions. I must confess I have not read his colleague's Bill.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I accept that. We are probably agreed in terms of what needs to happen. I have raised this with the Attorney General and Minister for Finance and the consistent message I get back is that it is not a matter that we can fix in domestic law. It is not my area of expertise at all, so I am very happy to be wrong on this, but my understanding is that what we need is a change to European...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I am sorry to cut across Deputy Doherty but I think the board issued a detailed letter to the Committee of Public Accounts. I am sure we can make that available to the committee.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Again, Deputy Doherty has made a lot of comments. I will try to cover some of them. Issues like this arise in this project regularly. Deputy Doherty is suggesting that every time an issue of this scale - whatever scale that might be – is raised, I would go off and start understanding the laminar air flow within the theatres, the specification of the windows, the paint being used on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Issues like this are raised on a project like this all the time. Deputy Doherty might think the paint is a minor issue, but in a hospital it is not a minor issue. I can assure Deputy Doherty that I am not being glib. The materials used, the specification of those materials used, how those materials are applied in terms of mechanical and electrical and all manner of design are all critical...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: It is absolutely not my role or any Minister's role to be involved every time there is a material technical question raised about a piece of healthcare infrastructure being built around the country. Deputy Doherty may believe that if he was in this role – maybe some day he will be - he would be intimately involved in all of the detail every time a serious issue is raised about a piece...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I believe he did.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I believe he did say that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Of how long?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: Okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Deputy. To be clear, he went on the national broadcaster and talked about this issue potentially taking one year to fix. He talked about tens of millions of euro and spoke about this in a way that would allow any reasonable listener to believe this entire project was being put at risk by this issue. My belief, rightly or wrongly, is that Deputy Doherty's party was contacted by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: The Deputy might let me finish. He is free to respond in any way he wants.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I believe that his party may have inadvertently been pulled into what is essentially a pretty tough negotiation between the State and other parties, whoever those parties may be. I am very happy to be wrong on that but that is my sense. The level of apocryphal warnings that were coming from Sinn Féin's health spokesperson are completely at odds with what the development board...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Public Sector Secondment: Minister for Health (22 Jun 2023)

Stephen Donnelly: I thank the Chair very much. Of course, we will follow up with a detailed note. Deputy Doherty would not expect me to accept the characterisation he just provided at all, which I entirely refute. The Deputy just repeated the line that this could cost a couple of tens of millions of euro.