Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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1735. To ask the Minister for Health the funding spent to date on the national maternity hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35225/21]

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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1839. To ask the Minister for Health the amount that has been spent to date on the new national maternity project per year since the inception of the project move to St Vincent’s Hospital grounds; and the amount that has been transferred to date to a company (details supplied) or any subsidiary connected or related to that group or owners of the group in tabular form. [35580/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1735 and 1839 together.

As this Parliamentary Question relates to an operational issue, it is a matter for the HSE. However, members of the Oireachtas are advised that the HSE is currently unable to access the information to answer Parliamentary Questions due to the recent cyber-attack, which has required a temporary shut-down of HSE IT systems. The disruption to service is on-going, and the HSE is working hard to restore its IT capacity and resume normal services. Members of the Oireachtas will be advised as soon as the HSE is again in a position to provide responses to PQs and are encouraged to resubmit their Parliamentary Questions at that point.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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1736. To ask the Minister for Health the precise work done to date in his Department and in the HSE in order to comply with the rules governing spending on large State capital projects in respect of the new national maternity hospital; if business cases have been completed by his Department and the HSE in this regard; the conclusions reached in these business cases; if he will undertake to publish these documents in the public interest; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35256/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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A business case for the national maternity hospital (NMH) relocation project was submitted to the Department of Health by the NMH Project Board in December 2020. This provided a comprehensive overview of the proposed project. However, as a project initiated prior to the updated Public Spending Code (PSC), the Project Board is undertaking additional work to ensure full compliance with the new PSC.

The PSC is designed to ensure that investment decisions are underpinned by a clear policy rationale, and that costs are well understood. In 2019, the PSC was updated and introduced a new project lifecycle, tightening the arrangements for project decision-making, and clarifying the roles of the parties involved including the responsibilities for Sponsoring Agencies and Approving Authorities.

The Department of Health has put in place procedures for evaluating and managing public investment in capital projects, and its responsibilities as an Approving Authority, in line with the updated PSC.

The Department is working with the HSE, as a Sponsoring Agency, to ensure that new capital investment proposals are initiated in line with this new lifecycle approach and through all subsequent stages. For projects that pre-date the updated PSC, the Department, the HSE and project boards are working, with input from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, as appropriate, to ensure that these projects can be incorporated into this lifecycle approach.

The specific requirements that must be included in a business case at the various stages of the PSC, and the stages at which these are to be published, are detailed at www.gov.ie/en/publication/public-spending-code/

For the NMH relocation project, an updated business case will be re-submitted to the Department of Health, as Approving Authority, and to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for technical review, in due course.