Results 18,361-18,380 of 45,789 for speaker:Simon Harris

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I believe it very much is.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Those decisions were made by the Government as part of the decision to proceed with the large part of the project. There would have been consultation with my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and then a decision was made by Government.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes, that is correct. The Government approved the structures. I know Deputy Jonathan O'Brien does not mean it like this, but the people on those groups were officials in the Department and not political appointments. The Government did make the decision regarding the composition of the working groups.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I thank the Chair for his clarification and fairness. I am more than happy to answer the questions, however, and I would not like to leave the elephant in the room regarding the national children's hospital. It is a large amount of public expenditure. Regarding Deputy Jonathan O'Brien's question, a decision was made in 2007 to set up a National Paediatric Hospital Development Board. I...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Exactly. It specifically recommends against that course of action. I am paraphrasing but in auditor-speak it states that if we were to do that, we would lose so much corporate memory that we could jeopardise the project. The report does, however, state that I need to strengthen the board. Auditors are not brought in if everything is thought to be going great and if the recommendations are...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I am willing to do whatever I believe it takes but that is not my initial thought. My initial thoughts are that the statutory instrument gives me the power to alter the size of the board and to add people. While I have not made these decisions less than 24 hours after the publication of a report, I can state with certainty that I will be strengthening the board, particularly in the areas...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Does the Deputy mean the group chaired by the Secretary General of my Department?

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: The Secretary General of my Department reports to me and he kept me briefed at the appropriate junctures. I published all of those documents in advance. The good news is that the PwC timeline tallies with that. There are two interesting points in the report regarding the governance issue. One is that while it states the governance structure was complex, it also states that it did not...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Yes, that is correct. I do not want to name them here. Even though we have privilege, I am conscious the board will have to consider all of these matters. We depend on professional expertise to give accurate, factual information. We hire such firms because we do not have the expertise ourselves. We can then scrutinise them and bring in other people and other experts to look at that...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I did.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I accept responsibility for the challenges with this project. I will explain why. If I was coming in here today and the project was ahead of schedule and €200 million under budget I would be taking credit for that, and so would the Deputy if he was the Minister. The good has to be taken with the bad in government. We put experts in place and so did my predecessors. They were good,...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I appointed the board and I accept the responsibility in that regard. While we are on the issue of political responsibility, I have to make the point that I had to make a major political judgment call in December with Government colleagues. I was given three options, namely, to proceed, retender or pause. They were the three options I was given.

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I considered them-----

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is an honest enough person to say that, but there are other people in this House, and let the record show it clearly, who said, if not in this committee room then certainly on the floor of the Dáil, that I made the wrong decision. They said I should have paused it, retendered it or moved the site. We have brought in financial auditors who found that the Government and I did...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: That is correct, so-----

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Certainly-----

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: In fairness to my officials, because it is a select committee-----

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: That is the way it should be. I am accountable to the Oireachtas and my officials are accountable to me. I am satisfied that my officials behaved entirely appropriately during this and the reason I am satisfied is because the PwC report does not find anything to the contrary and actually finds that their work, and this is my clear interpretation of what it found, was impeded and impaired as...

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: I accept the bona fides of my officials. Nowhere in the report does it suggest that there was a difficulty with information flow. In fact, it actually states: "Despite the complex governance structures there was not an issue with information flow".

Select Committee on Health: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 38 - Health (Further Revised) (10 Apr 2019)

Simon Harris: Just as I accept political responsibility, as does the Government, the board members have to accept responsibility, which I am sure they do, for the decisions they made. The report is clear, and I agree with the Deputy on this point, that the governance structures need to be strengthened. The board will need to be strengthened and I will act on that as well. There is also an interesting...