Written answers

Tuesday, 27 July 2021

Department of Health

National Maternity Hospital

Photo of Mairead FarrellMairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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1949. To ask the Minister for Health the variance to the budget of the new national maternity hospital by expense category in tabular form in view of the reports that the hospital is set to cost €800 million up from the original estimated cost of circa €150 million. [35966/21]

Photo of Stephen DonnellyStephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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There is no approved budget in place for the relocation of the national maternity hospital (NMH). The need to obtain maximum value for money for capital investment projects through disciplined project evaluation, preparation, and implementation under the public spending code (PSC) means that there are a number of steps required before a clear, evidenced-based approximation of costs can be determined.

As the NMH relocation is a project initiated prior to the updated 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 PSC also provides detail on the requirements at each stage of the new project lifecycle.

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

Only following a successful procurement strategy and a tendering process, can an evidence-based and realistic forecast of the costs associated with a capital investment project be accurately projected. This is the baseline from which any and all variances would be derived.

Since a final business case - post procurement and tendering- has not been completed, there is no approved budget for this project and therefore variance on budget cannot be reported.

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