National Children's Hospital Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 February 2019

Wednesday, 27 February 2019

Ceisteanna (150)

Róisín Shortall

Ceist:

150. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 101 of 20 February 2019, the information that was being shared by this office with his Department regarding the national children’s hospital; the dates on which his Department was contacted by persons from this office regarding the national children’s hospital; if his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 156 of 20 February 2019 will be clarified, on the basis of the reply of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9985/19]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Health

As per my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 156 of 20 February 2019, the position is that the Secretary General of my Department arranged a discussion with the individual concerned, in his capacity as a Board member of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, on 18 October 2018, relating to the completion of the Guaranteed Maximum Price process for the National Children's Hospital, which was underway.  This information was provided in the reply to the Deputy's recent question in the interest of completeness.  However, the discussion as set out in the reply was at the initiation of the Secretary General.  The Secretary General had already received briefing and correspondence from the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board on the process underway to finalise the Guaranteed Maximum Price for the project.  In this context, he was interested in getting the perspective of the individual concerned as a member of the Board and arranged the discussion for this purpose.