Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I echo the phrase "put up or shut up". The blatant incompetence, unaccountability and recklessness exposed by the national children's hospital debacle merely displays the inability of the Government, carried by Fianna Fáil, to provide the necessary governance and oversight to deliver infrastructure projects such as this one. Now we have the familiar cover-up and defending of the indefensible. Once again, people are being asked to turn a blind eye. There is nothing to see here, it is all par for the course. We are expected to believe that from the time concerns were raised about the €61 million costs overrun at meetings of the steering group held between August 2017 and April 2018 until the meeting in August 2018 of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board which discussed a €200 million overrun, the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, was not informed. The Minister says he was first told on 27 August 2018. Thereafter, there was no rush or urgency and the Ministers for Health and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputies Harris and Donohoe, respectively, then became aware of the €1.4 billion construction figure in November 2018. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform says he became aware on 9 November. There is all that time between August and November and despite this being the biggest health project we have ever had, nobody saw fit to discuss this matter or to bring it anywhere. That was while detailed budget discussions were taking place between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Did nobody in those parties ever inquire as to the financial status of the largest health project in history? Fianna Fáil is now crying crocodile tears after the horse has bolted. It had such blind confidence in its bedfellows. One can only be astonished at its complete trust and unwavering loyalty that it did not even question the figures.

Yesterday, I asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, if he would re-examine the procurement model that has failed us time and again. In spite of having nine different internal and external reports carried out on corporate governance or internal financial controls in the past two years, it is obvious that nothing has been learned. In recent times, we have had the national broadband plan debacle and the Carillion debacle as a result of which dozens of small and medium businesses lost millions because proper due diligence was not carried out before the contract was awarded. Again, there was blind loyalty to KPMG and its ruling on Carillion.

My colleague, Deputy Brady, raised again yesterday an issue we have been raising for two years concerning the JobPath scheme, namely, the payment of €149 million of taxpayers' money with very little return to private companies to provide a service already provided by State-funded organisations. I include all citizens in this because everybody pays tax in this country. How long can we go on wasting money? How long will this Government and Fianna Fáil continue to write blank cheques for selected projects while, at the same time, we have to beg for hospital beds so critically ill patients can get vital chemotherapy and other treatment? This is happening while elderly and disabled people are told they are not worth a full hour of home care and they have to make do with half hour or take their place on the list. In addition, young children wait every day for vital drugs such as Translarna and Spinraza to enable them to function and Valproate victims are ignored.