Children's hospital report
John Brassil sought confirmation that the PwC report on national children's hospital cost overruns would be debated and whether legislation was needed. The Taoiseach said the report would be published, a debate was for the Business Committee, and no legislation was required.
There are reports that the PricewaterhouseCoopers report into the cost overruns at the national children's hospital will be released this afternoon. Will the Taoiseach confirm that this report will be debated in the Dáil so that the House can assess what went wrong and how it can be prevented in future? Will the Taoiseach confirm whether the recommendations require the need for legislation?
Comment on this
The PwC report on the cost escalation at the national children's hospital will be published today. Indeed, it may have been published already. I think it probably has been published in the past hour. Any decision to debate the report in the House will be a matter for the Business Committee. I am sure it would be appropriate to do so although I imagine the best step would be for the Joint Committee on Health to invite in the authors of the report to allow them to set out their findings. I do not think any legislation is required in respect of the recommendations.