Results 13,681-13,700 of 21,498 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is a lot of business the board has tendered for. The development board says it is assured there is no conflict of interest in terms of the decision making process, members of any of the panels or members of the board in respect of the award of the contracts.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is the development board satisfied there have been no conflicts of interest?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Have there been any complaints of conflicts of interest?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Which issues did the media raise?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Will Mr. Pollock explain to the committee the nature of that controversy?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is that complaint resolved to Mr. Pollock's satisfaction?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: As Ms Conway said, this is the largest health infrastructure project in the history of the State. It is a large and important project involving vast sums of money and, I imagine, a substantial ongoing process of procurement, evaluation and awarding of contracts. That is so because of the skills and expertise required.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Perhaps Mr. Costello can answer my next question. Will he talk to us about ongoing oversight and evaluation of the issue of conflict of interest from the perspective of the board? I do not make this point to impugn anybody or suggest anything improper, but I am conscious that within different sectors of expertise, there can be quite a considerable crossover in terms of people's work...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: All of this is now impaired.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am a little puzzled because the €40 million figure includes integrated design team costs of €6.1 million. As Mr. Pollock indicated to Deputy Connaughton, these costs related to connectivity and joining up, in a rational, efficient and quality manner, the services of three separate hospitals to create one service. I am concerned and do not fully understand how the level of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: On workforce planning, the workforce remains the workforces, irrespective of whether one moves employees to a new site either on the Mater Hospital campus or in St. James's Hospital. I am puzzled by the level of impairment in some areas.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: No, I would not expect that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I accept that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: That is astonishing from a practical point of view. While I do not pretend to have expertise in the field, speaking as a layperson, the scale of impairment on a figure of €40 million is astonishing. I fully accept that this is a new plan for a new site and that time has moved on, albeit not to any great extent in the sense that I have not noticed any radical transformation in health...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: It is a huge write-off and I suggest that, given its scale, it merits a dedicated examination to ascertain why that is the case. I am troubled by this.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I am not questioning the process; Mr. Pollock has made that absolutely clear. However, in terms of PM Group, the legal teams, health policy designers, people in charge of the business case and so forth, these were essentially consultancy contracts. Is that the case?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Pollock will be aware of the legitimate public anxiety about expenditure on consultants. We need to return to this issue because I am taken aback by the scale of the impairment. We will move on to the here and now. I have a couple of questions on the report the board forwarded to the committee and the current status of the project. The report states that following approval of the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I welcome the witnesses. I see from Mr. Pollock's curriculum vitae that he received a first class honours degree from Cork. Congratulations on that achievement.

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: I have looked at the synopses of the very impressive careers of the witnesses. As members of the board, how much of their time is taken up on this project? Are they full-time?

Public Accounts Committee: 2012 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
2012 Accounts of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (23 Oct 2014)

Mary Lou McDonald: What about Mr. Costello?