Results 11,981-12,000 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am unfamiliar with the documents the Deputy has referred to. I ask Deputies to be fair in this regard. The Minister is not a member of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board. He is not a member of any of those committees. It is not reasonable to expect him to account for documents that he did not see and minutes of meetings he never attended.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Nobody can be held to that level of accountability. That is not fair.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am assured it is compliant with the EU procurement directive but I cannot give the Deputy an assurance that an underbidder or another party will not contest this legally. Anybody has the right to go to court if he believes he has been treated unlawfully. Obviously, I cannot give an assurance in that regard.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I do not know. I would have to check.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I am sure the Business Committee can discuss the matter but the Minister, Deputy Harris, has no problem answering questions. He likes to answer questions.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: There have been four committee hearings on this matter. Members of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, NPHDB, have appeared before the Joint Committee on Health. The Minister and the Secretary General of the Department have also appeared before that committee.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: Representatives of the NPHDB, the Department of Health and the HSE have appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----and the Minister for Health and the Secretary General of the Department of Health have appeared before the Joint Committee on Health for their quarterly session. The Minister has spent nine hours answering questions on this matter-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----so I suggest that if there is to be a further set of questions, Members should read the questions and answers that have already occurred and only ask new questions.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy raised some legitimate questions about whether the two-phase approach was the right way to go. That is something we have to inquire into and consider. There are obvious pros and cons with a two-phase approach. The obvious pro was that it is quicker. One can go ahead and get the enabling works, the clearing works, the demolition and the underground works done and then have the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: -----and that perhaps would have been politically easier to bear and easier to manage because we could point to the project and say, "It's done, isn't it great and isn't it worth it?", but that was not the decision that was made.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy said that every expert said this and every expert said that. In this project the experts were on the board. The experts were the staff. A decision was taken by Government, endorsed by this Oireachtas, to establish the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, a dedicated agency to deliver this project. The board is a who's who of experts at delivering projects such as...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: We accept responsibility and accountability for it.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I would have to check the contracts.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: There are one or two contractors who, quite frankly, I would not like to see get a public contract again in this State.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: However, EU procurement law does not allow us to ban people from tendering. Perhaps we can work into the scoring system a public service reference or a past form clause looking at previous projects. Finally, with apologies to the Ceann Comhairle for going over time, I should say this is something we have got right in the past. The National Roads Authority, NRA, ran over and ran late for...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy. We are under pressure to deliver this project, but we are not under pressure from each other. We are under pressure from the children of Ireland and the parents of those children, who deserve much better healthcare facilities. I know the Deputy has a family. I am sure he has been to Crumlin and to Temple Street in particular. He has seen that we operate our paediatric...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: The pressure this Government feels to deliver this project arises from our concern for parents, for quality paediatric healthcare and for children. It is not correct to say that we have blown €0.5 billion in public money. The money has not even been spent yet. We took a decision in December to go ahead with this project. Having discovered that we underestimated the cost of this...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: In response to questions from committee members as to whether he might examine the project at some point, the Comptroller and Auditor General did not rule it out, if, as he stated, it could add something valuable. Again, he noted that, typically, his role is to look back at expenditure previously incurred. The HSE has confirmed that it is satisfied that there are no conflicts of interest...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (12 Feb 2019)

Leo Varadkar: There has been a significant rationalisation of public bodies in recent years. The House will be aware that town councils were abolished, education and training boards, formerly vocational educational committees, VECs, were merged and county enterprise boards, as stand-alone entities, were abolished and reintegrated into local authorities. Many mergers also took place. To give one small...