Results 19,901-19,920 of 74,100 for speaker:Bernard Durkan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children’s Hospital: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (16 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: Without penalty?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children’s Hospital: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (16 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: Did the board consider doing that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children’s Hospital: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (16 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: The board evaluated the cost of the second stage. Suppose the lowest tenders in each stage were taken separately. What result would that have given?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children’s Hospital: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (16 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: Right. Initially, when the contracts were evaluated in making the award, could the board have decided to take stage 1 from contractor A and the continuation from contractor B?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children’s Hospital: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (16 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I am aware it is not, but could the board have done that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children’s Hospital: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (16 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I ask him not to forget the date restriction or date conditions that might be applied.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children’s Hospital: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (16 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I know that there are international norms concerning the cost per sq. m of a hospital of a certain standard. The witnesses themselves have referred to them. There are certain standards, grades or levels of hospital, be it a basic hospital, an elevated one or a high-class one, which is what we are talking about here. Were the tenders examined with that in view in order to ensure that the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children’s Hospital: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (16 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: AECOM itself did that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children’s Hospital: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (16 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: Did the witnesses do any of that in their capacity as the management team?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: National Children’s Hospital: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (16 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: This is my last question. Has the board also carried out an evaluation of inflation costs in construction, in building works and in electrical installations generally, both here and across the globe? Incidentally there was one particular case where a UK contractor was operating here, much to the grief of the Department of Education and Skills, so I would not necessarily regard the UK as the...

Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2018 [Seanad]: Second Stage (15 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: -----but Deputy Donnelly inspired me when he set about dissecting what happened in recent years. I could not resist the temptation because I had to make the comparison. There is no good in telling me that I was wrong; I was there at the time. The point is that the old lapse of memory is amazing. We tend to see things as they are and not to compare them with how they could or should be.

Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2018 [Seanad]: Second Stage (15 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: Oscar Wilde once famously said “Duty is what one expects from others, it is not what one does oneself.” We need to recognise that a lot of water has gone under the bridge in the years since the HSE was set up. It did not prove itself to be what I thought it was. It proved to me what I thought it would not be and unfortunately I was right. It was decided way back that by...

Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2018 [Seanad]: Second Stage (15 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important matter. Like a number of other Deputies, I spent some time on one of the original health boards - a lot of time, in fact - during which I learned something about the health services. I was interested to hear the various submissions. A comparison has been made between the old health boards and the current structure. I agree with that...

Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2018 [Seanad]: Second Stage (15 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: During the 20 years I spent on the health boards, there were overruns almost every year.

Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2018 [Seanad]: Second Stage (15 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I was there so I know what I am talking about.

Health Service Executive (Governance) Bill 2018 [Seanad]: Second Stage (15 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: The Leas-Cheann Comhairle will recall the position at the time. What actually happened was that in the month of September, a diktat would come down from the Minister for Health which said "You are over budget, pull it up." We were to apply the hand brake and correct it immediately. That is what happened. That is why it did not go any further. That was lost. Deputy Donnelly also...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Water and Sewerage Schemes (15 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I thank the Minister for his reply but I do not accept or agree with the chronology of events as set out because I also attended meetings with the subscribers to the scheme in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and no indication was given at that stage that the scheme would have to cease. In fact, the participants were most anxious that the scheme would proceed at the earliest opportunity. I am not...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Water and Sewerage Schemes (15 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: No.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Water and Sewerage Schemes (15 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me the opportunity to raise this particularly important issue. I also thank the Minister for coming into the House to reply. The Ceann Comhairle correctly identified the scheme as the Balyna scheme, which is an offshoot of the famous Allen-Killina group water scheme of many years ago, which was vintage in the 1970s. It had many stages and extensions...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Social and Affordable Housing Provision (15 Jan 2019)

Bernard Durkan: 49. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of direct-build local authority houses envisaged for completion, ready for occupation or both in 2019, excluding those that will be built by approved housing bodies; his plans to utilise public or private lands for the provision of sufficient housing starts by the local authorities with a view to ensuring that the...