I wish to raise the role of the head of the Office of Government Procurement in respect of the children's hospital.

I ask the Tánaiste to respond to the issues I am raising rather than giving a rationale for a new children's hospital. Nobody is denying the need for a new children's hospital, but there are important issues at stake here on which we need answers.

I want to raise the issue of this person's role and the statements that both the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, made on the record of this House. On Tuesday of last week, when asked if the head of the Office of Government Procurement, OGP, alerted the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, to the children's hospital's escalating cost overruns, the Taoiseach replied: "If somebody is on a board, his or her fiduciary and legal responsibilities are to that board and the correct line of accountability is from the chairman of that board to the line Minister, not individual board members acting on their own part." We now know that this statement was not true. These constraints do not apply as the board in question is not a company. It is a development board. The Taoiseach needs to correct the record of the House as what he said was simply untrue and misleading. I ask the Tánaiste to convey those concerns to the Taoiseach and request that he does that at the earliest possible date.

In respect of civil servants who are members of the boards of non-commercial State bodies, circular 12/10 applies and is very clear:

Where there is a significant public policy issue at stake or a disagreement within the board on a major public policy issue, the civil servant should request the Chairman to notify the Minister or, failing that, notify the Minister himself/herself.

Under protocol outlined in the circular, the Minister must be notified without delay where:

(i) There are serious weakness in controls that have not been addressed despite being drawn to the attention of the board or the Chairman;

(ii) There is a significant strategic or reputational risk to the body that is not being addressed;

Yesterday evening the Minister confirmed that circular 12/10 applied. He said: "According to the circular that the head of the OGP was subject to, it was his role to ensure that the parent Department responsible for the project was being informed of what was happening and that was happening." Either the official did what he was supposed to do and alerted the Minister or he did not. If he did not adhere to the circular, that is a serious matter. If he did, it is important that we know exactly when he did inform the Minister. Was that information provided without delay, as was required of the official, and can we have the detail of that? Can we also have information on the actions of that official in respect of his own Minister, Deputy Donohoe? Presumably, if he was aware of this escalating problem with the children's hospital, he would have notified his own Minister.

The Deputy has asked quite a lot of detailed questions. I will try to respond to them. First, Mr. Paul Quinn is the Government chief procurement officer and head of the Office of Government Procurement. Mr. Quinn was appointed in a personal capacity to the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board for a five-year term in 2013 by the then Minister for Health, the now Senator James Reilly. He was reappointed in 2018 by the current Minister for Health, Deputy Harris. Members of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, in line with the code of practice for the governance of State bodies and the board's own code of governance, have a duty to the board in the first instance, a responsibility to act collectively in decision-making and communication and an obligation to observe its confidentiality arrangements. The Department of Health, as the accountable Department, established reporting and governance arrangements for the project through which the board provided regular updates to it on the project. The Department of Health has already set out those governance arrangements in detail along with the timeline of when the board alerted it to the cost escalation and when the Department of Health subsequently communicated the new cost projections to the Government and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. In other words, there were agreed codes of communication, both on the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board and also between that board and the accountable Department, that is, the Department of Health. From my notes those codes and that process were followed.

The Taoiseach was right, then.

I thank the Tánaiste. I was quoting from the circular. It specifies what is required of an official who is appointed as a board member in a body such as this. Under that protocol the Minister "must be notified without delay" where "There are serious weakness in controls that have not been addressed". It was quite apparent to anybody involved in the children's hospital that there were serious weaknesses in the controls. That was apparent from early 2018. Last night, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, told us the official in question was doing what he was supposed to be doing and was notifying the Department and the Minister. When did he notify the Department and the Minister that this was the case? He was required to do it without delay. Maybe we could have clarification on when exactly he was told and whether or not he notified his own Minister, in this case, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, given that Minister's responsibility.

I thank the Deputy. The point here is that he was on the board. He had a code of practice by which he was governed on that board. He was also accountable to the sponsoring Department, which was the Department of Health. There was a line of communication between the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board and the Department of Health. He had an obligation to play his role in that as a board member who was accountable to the Department of Health. That was the line of communication.

When did he do what he was supposed to do?

There was not a separate line to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform-----

Sure.

-----which would not have been appropriate given the role of the Department of Health as the parent Department for this project.

When did he notify the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris?

I thank the Tánaiste. That concludes Leaders' Questions.

The Tánaiste should answer the question.

The Tánaiste has completely evaded the question. When did he notify the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris?