Results 11,681-11,700 of 26,448 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Even that is a learning in itself. Most people see the tension between the Departments as having been a healthy tension. It is good to see that as part of a process. If that was lacking in respect of the national children's hospital or, worse, if it was the case that the Department of Health was trying to make contact with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and not hearing...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: We will, but I still think it merits a response in terms of the correspondence that came in separate from this meeting, so I would like to make a number of observations on it. The first is that this was never about individuals. I am not aware of what comments the Chairman made but any concerns that were raised, from recollection, were more about the process and conflicts of interest. The...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: An additional point I forgot to mention was that if there is a conflict of interest, it can be managed if it is declared. There was no declaration here. I read the PwC report and it does not say anywhere that it provided high-level advice at an earlier stage in this project. It was not said. We had discussions at both this committee and the Joint Committee on Health and questions were...

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Do we all get double time?

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: My first question is for Mr. Breslin. I have two things to say so that we are on the same page. I think we can certainly agree that we are now left with a project with significant cost overruns and that some of those costs could have been avoided. Would Mr. Breslin accept that?

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: That is my second point.

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: We can establish that there was a cost overrun where costs could have been contained and indeed reduced.

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: We have two reports, one from Mazars and one from PwC, both of which show failings that led to the cost overrun. There are learnings from that because there are recommendations in the PwC report that are, obviously, useful for future projects as well so, hopefully, we can agree on that as well.

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: I am sure Mr. Breslin has seen public commentary regarding very robust exchanges between the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Secretary General of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment regarding the national broadband plan. Some would see that discussion regarding a cost-benefit analysis of that project and very strongly...

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Were there disagreements about the two-stage process at any point?

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Is Mr. Breslin satisfied that the some of the issues captured in both reports that led in part to the cost overrun are down to failures in both the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Health?

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: I will get to that in terms of the PwC report-----

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Should there have been more robust challenges from both Departments in terms of speaking to each other and speaking to the board because Mr. Breslin said all the eggs were in that basket? Was there sufficient robust challenge regarding how this project was being managed and how this project was looking at cost containment or worse, cost escalation? Is Mr. Breslin satisfied that he now...

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: I get that and that is a fair point. The Comptroller and Auditor General has a lot of experience in looking at process. Very often, many of the issues we cover involve a failure of governance or insufficient robust exchanges or information to hand for people who need information when they are making decisions. This is not just a project; it is about construction and the building of a...

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Okay.

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Okay. I concur with that. I would like to look at the structure that was set up. We had the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board. Then we had two separate steering groups, one of which was the children's hospital project and programme steering group. According to the PwC report, "the terms of reference and composition of the CHP&P Steering Group and Board meant that their...

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: Yes. The development board itself was looked at as a "single point of failure". What lessons have been learned from that?

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: The report raises questions about the level of challenge.

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: It uses the word "challenge" an awful lot.

Public Accounts Committee: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: Financial Statements 2017 (Resumed) (16 May 2019)

David Cullinane: I will come back to the board now. I will start with Mr. Barry, who is new to the board. The report seems to suggest that there was a lack of challenge, and of robust discussion and debate on serious issues, at board level. I will bring Mr. Quinn in on this matter in a moment. Does Mr. Barry agree that the PwC report points to an apparent lack of ability to challenge across all the...