Ah no.
The Minister didn’t say it. He couldn’t have said it.
But he did, though. Didn’t he?
Yep.
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There have been “learnings”.
They’re back to haunt us and to taunt us.
Back at the national bedside dispensing cold comfort when yet another State project lies sick as a dog with a serious dose of the overruns.
Why are we not surprised?
Flippin’ learnings, always turning up like a bad penny whenever another wayward billion or so is flushed down the pan after the latest bout of Government laxity.
Where there’s learnings, there’s earnings – but never for us.
And where there’s learnings, there’s a chastened politician running out of explanations for how and why a situation was allowed to happen.
In the present case of the children’s hospital, it’s a shocking state of affairs, but at least there have been learnings which will be very valuable, going forward.
Even so, it was still hard to hear Paschal Donohoe, when confronted with the soaring costs and extraordinary delays blighting the construction of the new national children’s hospital, fall back on the old “learnings” line.
It was an unlucky break for the Minister for Public Expenditure, pressed into action at Leaders’ Questions on Tuesday, because the Taoiseach was in New York on United Nations business.
But a lucky one for Simon Harris, who should have been the one at the sharp end of relevant questions from Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald and Labour’s Ivana Bacik.
This painful hospital saga has become a major political embarrassment for the Government, and in particular, for Fine Gael. Successfully delivering this hugely needed piece of infrastructure used to be a proud pledge for the party, right back to the early days of Enda Kenny’s stewardship.
They don’t talk about it much now.
“The debacle surrounding the construction of the national children’s hospital continues,” began Mary Lou. “The biggest investment in health infrastructure in the history of the State has descended into farce.”
She was making the best of her material, even though the intended recipient of her crushing punchline was busy in the Big Apple working out how to trump Micheál Martin’s photo-op with Meryl Streep.
The benighted project has been under construction since 2017 and the Sinn Féin leader traced the genesis of the ongoing omnishambles back to one person.
“It was Simon Harris.”
He signed the contract and then, two years later, despite warning signs, he signed off on phase two of construction.
Mary Lou’s smoking gun moment was lost on Paschal.
[ Children’s hospital completion date now June 2025, TDs to be toldOpens in new window ]
The hospital is in the headlines again following the helpful emergence of a letter sent by the Minister for Health to the Taoiseach and ministerial colleagues last week outlining the extent of the construction fiasco and blasting builders Bam for, among other things, “holding the State to ransom” while trying “to extract as much money from the Irish taxpayer as possible”.
The company was quick to reject his allegations in the strongest possible terms.
Meanwhile, speaking from New York, the Taoiseach declared Ireland “isn’t going to be any sort of pushover” when it comes to nailing down these big contracts.
As far as Mary Lou is concerned, that particular trolley departed the operating theatre a long time ago.
The intended recipient of Mary Lou’s crushing punchline was busy in the Big Apple working out how to trump Micheál Martin’s photo-op with Meryl Streep
So what is the Government doing now to ensure it “doesn’t continue to be a pushover?”
Well. The Government is utterly in favour of providing the best hospital treatment there is for all the sick boys and girls and the new hospital is “so important” and “needed” and when is it eventually opened it will be great which is why the Government “want it open as soon as possible”, said Paschal.
And yes, there have been too many delays “due to decisions made by the contractor” but the oversight board is on the case and taking all necessary steps to make sure the hospital is open as soon as possible, he promised.
Whenever that might be.
He said when the Government says it intends to tackle the rising costs, all Sinn Féin can do is criticise.
Paschal Donohoe was feeing very hard done by. No matter what he says to Mary Lou, it will never be acceptable, he sighed.
Hadn’t he acknowledged that all was not well with the project? Not only that, but he had also acknowledged “all the difficulties and learnings we have had in regard to the cost of the hospital”.
But it still isn’t open and not one child has been treated, Mary Lou persisted. Just what is the Government doing?
“You asked me what the Government is doing ...” responded Paschal.
“Nothing!” roared the Shinners.
It is taking the necessary action, said the Minister.
“And how has that gone so far,” snarked Pearse Doherty, raising his eyes to heaven.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik kept up the pressure.
The Minister for Health writes a letter because he is angry at the situation. “We all are!” she exclaimed. “It’s simply not good enough.”
The pink and wan presence of Stephen Donnelly, the Minister, manifested silently throughout. His hands folded primly on his lap.
If Mary Lou had aimed her fire at the Taoiseach, Ivana wasn’t sparing Paschal. “Indeed, your department has questions to answer too. What do you propose to do as public expenditure Minister?”
They all looked very glum on the Government benches. What happened to that crest of a wave they were enjoying so much?
The Minister repeated he recognised all the ongoing difficulties with the project – the rising costs, the delays and so on.
“I have stated what we have learned from it,” he said, with the Government’s approach to these large projects changing to “reflect the learnings we’ve had from the delivery of the national children’s hospital”.
Or lack of it.
“Ye couldn’t build a hen house,” harrumphed Mattie McGrath.
Paschal accepted things “should have gone better in relation to this hospital, my role in it and what we have done to try to fix it for the future and ensure that learnings are learned in relation to it”.
And that was before Mary Lou and others moved on to that other fiasco – the €336,000 Oireachtas bike shelter. “An outrageous waste of public money” along the lines of the hospital, she fumed.
“People are absolutely furious, and rightly so, about the debacle and the waste of money that is the Leinster House bike shed,” said the Soc Dem’s Jennifer Whitmore.
Paschal was happy to clarify matters.
“No Ministers were involved in that particular decision.”
Obviously some learnings have been learned.
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