Results 13,441-13,460 of 35,658 for speaker:Pearse Doherty
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: Is that not what the two-stage project is about?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: Is it not what the body under the remit of the Department sanctioned?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: When the Government contracts committee for construction met it was aware that that was the model that was being followed, that there would have been significant public moneys spent on the preliminary works and that at a later stage, there would be a second piece of work, which, in theory, the Government could opt out of but, in practice, the developer had the Government over a barrel.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: What due diligence does the committee undertake in terms of the bill of quantities because the bill of quantities was not just a bit out?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: I would like to return to some of the questions asked earlier. The Secretary General at the Department of Health and the Minister for Health were made aware in late August that there was a €191 million overrun and a potential additional €200 overrun. As Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, does Mr. Watt believe that that information should have...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: Mr. Watt might be getting the numbers mixed up. The figure of €191 million had crystallised at that point in time.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: It was another €200 million. I will outline the point in case Mr. Watt did not understand. At the time the Minister for Health and the Secretary General of the Department were aware that there was a crystallisation of the figure of €191 million and potentially something above it, but that information was not relayed to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: The other number did not. The figure of €191 million stayed the same. Should that information have been relayed to the Department?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: The problem is that whatever has happened with the national children's hospital has happened. If possible, we must find a way to drive down costs, while delivering the project in a timely manner. Mr. Watt is the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I want to have confidence that he believes that in the course of developing a budget for 2019, if a Secretary...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: Does Mr. Watt think it was appropriate for that Department not to tell him at that point in time of the-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: Actually, this is the first time Mr. Watt has been before the committee to discuss this issue-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: I am not on the other committee and do not know if it asked him this question.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: Did Mr. Watt give it an answer?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: It appears from the opening statement that this has nothing to do with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, even though-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: I am just laying out the case. The sanctioning body was the Government and the appropriate Department was the Department of Health. We see from the minutes that have been released that the Department of Health was seeking to meet officials of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for a number of weeks to discuss the issue, but that meeting did not take place. It took place at a...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: It brought it to the Department's attention three months later, after the budget had been passed.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: Mr. Watt thinks it is completely appropriate. Let me be plain. If the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is telling this committee that it is okay for a Department to be aware of an overrun of hundreds of millions of euro-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: No, an overrun of €191 million.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: It is an overrun that was crystallised and would materialise if the project continued and the Government approved it.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: National Children's Hospital: Discussion with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (7 Mar 2019)
Pearse Doherty: It did not inform the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which was preparing Estimates to be brought before the Houses of the Oireachtas.