I welcome the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, for Leaders' Questions. She has a babysitter with her just in case; the independents are at last taking charge of the Government.

The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will take all responsibility.

It is interesting that Fine Gael Ministers have gone missing today. We have just finished a debate in which the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, discussed the need for fiscal stability in the context of wage agreements. Everyone agrees with that, but it is very difficult to take that lecture, given what is happening with the national children's hospital project. There was no worry about fiscal stability and taking responsibility or control during that debacle. For the thousands of nurses who are on the picket line for a third day, patients and psychiatric nurses who are subject to an overtime ban, it is very difficult to listen to lectures, in the light of the information that is continuing to come out on the goings on in the context of the cost overrun on the national children's hospital. Within the past few minutes Jennifer Bray has released information in The Irish Times which outlines that there was a meeting of the project management board of the national children's hospital in September 2018 which was chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of Health at which information was presented which suggested there would be a cost overrun of up to €400 million. We have been asked to believe this information was not passed on to the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, or the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, despite the fact that the Secretary General had it in his possession in September ahead of this year's budget preparations.

Scandalous.

Is that credible? Is it credible that such information has been floating around at Secretary General level and was not passed on? What does it say to the Minister about relationships at the heart of the Government and those within the Department of Health? Until now we have heard the Fine Gael defence - a backstop defence, if you will - which has been repeated with absolute discipline. We now need to hear a different view. This is the chance of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to put her stamp on the controversy. Is she comfortable, as a Minister, with the manner in which the issue has been handled? We all agree that we want to see the project delivered, but it cannot continue to be delivered in the manner in which it is being carried out. We have had a drip drip of information and seen the undermining of collective Cabinet responsibility, while thousands of nurses are on strike today. GPs were on strike yesterday. There will be more strikes. Will the Minister bring some sense and perspective to the debate? As she is known as a straight talker, she should talk straight on this issue. Does she accept that the information was not shared at senior Government level? When was she, as a member of the Cabinet, made aware of the cost overruns in the Department of Health? Can she understand the frustration of the thousands of nurses who are picketing today at being lectured by the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, about the need for fiscal responsibility? He said meeting the nurses' pay demands would cause a spiral in the public finances. He was asleep at the wheel and is now lecturing people about the need for fiscal responsibility. Can the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs understand the frustration in that regard?

I thank the Deputy for wishing me well and noting my willingness to take the opportunity to answer these questions. I understand the connection people are making between the overrun in costs on the national children's hospital and the nurses' strike. I have spoken to many people who are making that connection, including on doorsteps in my constituency. I have spoken to a number of nurses, even retired nurses, about it.

The Deputy asked whether it was credible that information had not been passed on. I believe what has been said by the Ministers. I am the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and have come to the debate with that role in mind. The major questions asked by the Deputy concerned credibility, management, political oversight and accountability and they are important. It is the job of this House and the Opposition to hold Ministers to account and that is what Deputy Calleary and other colleagues in the Chamber are doing. This is the third time this week different members of the Government have been asked questions by the Opposition about the extraordinary increase in costs at the national children's hospital, as well as questions about the nursing strike. The Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, have just answered questions about the strike and have both appeared before committees this week to answer questions. I know that there are outstanding questions and that we have to get to the bottom of them. The Deputy wants answers. As an Independent member of the Government, I also want answers. For that reason, PwC has been commissioned to review the escalation in costs.

It will not provide for political accountability.

The review is being carried out at considerable expense, about which I also have reservations.

What about PwC's ability to review the matter?

However, I believe the review is necessary.

What about what happened at the Fine Gael meeting last night? That party does not think much of the public.

Ministers have answered the questions that they can answer at this point. They answered the questions put to them at the committee. I do not think we will progress our understanding of how we ended up where we are by asking the same questions over and over again and getting the same answers. I expect the questions to be answered in the PwC review which will be completed at the end of March, at which point we will have further exchanges in this House. I agree that it is our job as the Government and that of the Opposition to get answers for citizens. I understand people are angry; I talk to them too. I hope that when the report is finalised, we will be wiser and able to apply what we will learn.

This is a case of a new Minister giving the same old response. We have not received answers, which is why we keep asking the questions. The Ministers have replied to questions but do not answer them. We believe PwC is receiving €450,000 - it might be higher - to give us the answers, yet at last night's Fine Gael Parliamentary Party meeting the blame was laid squarely at the feet of the HSE. It was a case of "nothing to see here", a Basil Fawlty "don't mention the war" type response. The HSE was blamed. If the Secretary General of the Minister's Department was made aware of a significant overspend and did not inform her, what action would she take? What if the Secretary General did not inform her during the negotiations on a budget?

If the Secretary General did not inform the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs during the negotiations of a budget, what action would the Minister take? Second, before we get to March and before we get the famous PwC report that will be the answer to all our dreams, what is going to happen - I want the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to outline the details - to projects throughout the country that will be postponed or "delayed" to use the Government's language?

The word is "reprofiled".

What projects will be reprofiled - with thanks to Deputy Cowen for the word - or delayed throughout the country to pay for the Government ineptitude around the children's hospital? When will we be made aware of those projects? Do we have to wait for PwC for that too?

First, I do not accept the fact that I answered in the same way as others did. I try to be straight with Deputy Calleary, as he requested.

Does that mean the others were not straight with us?

I indicated that I think questions have been answered to the best of their ability by the Ministers to whom it happened in respect of these issues. Moreover, I indicated that we will have further answers on the report.

The second set of questions asked by Deputy Calleary are particularly on the minds of people today. The Minister for Finance and for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, is going to bring proposals next week to Government in respect of departmental re-allocations to pay for the cost overruns that have been identified.

The Taoiseach told us last week it would be ten days.

How is that going to happen? First, as I understand it, there will be an audit process that will take place in terms of capital projects for 2019 that, apart from the national children's hospital issue, are already delayed. We need to see how much money might be available in that regard. Second, if there is still a deficit, and there probably will be, then a reprofiling of projects needs to be identified that would result in them being delayed, but only for a matter of weeks. That is my understanding.