Blame game: Harris – and possibly Donohoe – are Opposition targets
Remind me – what is this about?
Ireland’s last new children’s hospital in Crumlin, Dublin, dates from 1956. Plans for a new one date at least from 1993.
There were marathon rows over sites and planning over 20-plus years. Finally, in 2016, planning permission was granted for the site at St James’s Hospital in Dublin.
In April 2017, the Government approved plans, with the price put at €983m. By December 2018, the Government learned this had escalated to €1.4bn for buildings.
Additional costs for equipment and adaptation brought this to €1.73bn – almost a doubling in eight months, with the meter still ticking and a stoking of huge public anger. Is there a private project which would proceed on that basis? all
Will the project go ahead anyway?
Happily, it still looks extremely likely to proceed. Even the most ardent critics of the runaway costs concede it should go ahead because it is badly needed.
But who is responsible for these spiralling costs?
This key question has started “pass-the-parcel”. There is a National Paediatric Hospital Development Board and related committees.
The two main Government departments are Health, headed by Simon Harris, and Public Expenditure, headed by Paschal Donohoe, who also heads Finance.
Mr Harris is definitely in the political cross-hairs, and Mr Donohoe will come under increasing pressure.
What are the critics alleging about Mr Harris? As Health Minister, he was told about serious budget overruns on August 27 last year. He did not tell the Public Expenditure Minister, Mr Donohoe, until November 9. Opposition TDs have asked: would a key manager in any company not tell the finance head about such major spending overrun projections faster?
Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin TDs have added this to Government health woes, including the nurses’ strike and doctors’ anger, saying the Health Minister is “not up to the job”.
Other reports suggest earlier overspend warnings in autumn 2017 of around €61m.
What is Mr Harris’s response?
Mr Harris says that when he found out about problems on August 27, his most senior official was on holiday.
There were ongoing efforts to deal with escalating costs, but he did not have direct powers over the contract.
There were contacts between his Health Department and Mr Donohoe’s Public Expenditure Department in October. He told Mr Donohoe and the Government on November 9.
The autumn 2017 overspend warnings related to details which were publicised.
What are the allegations against Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe?
This is the biggest health
spend in the State’s history, with a big supervision responsibility for the Public Expenditure Minister.
Last autumn, Mr Donohoe was preparing the Budget for this year, and having detailed talks with the Health Minister and his officials.
A big issue was picking up a €665m overspend for the
He says he did not have direct powers over the contract
health department generally in 2018. Why was there no talk of a huge capital overspend in health which would seriously affect 2019 Budget calculations?
Mr Donohoe’s department had a senior official on the hospital project building board.
Opposition TDs ask whether he raised a flag in his own department about big spending overrun projections on this.
What is Mr Donohoe’s response?
He has admitted it would have helped if the Health Minister had told him earlier. But he adds that Mr Harris was doing what he could to understand what was going on so he could fully inform the Government.
More generally, the Government has hired consultants PwC, at big expense, to find out what went wrong with the costings, who may be to blame, and whether the price can be moderated.
The deadline of March 29 for report delivery coincides with the Brexit deadline. Brexit keeps a lid of a kind on this one – for now.
Are we looking at resignation(s)? Some sackings? Even an election?
Resignations in Irish politics are rarely voluntary and usually amount to sackings. Sacrificing a key minister – or even a pair – would amount to a huge loss and it is hard to see a general election being avoided in such circumstances.
But the ongoing Brexit crisis offers what amounts to – forgive us – a backstop to prevent an early election over this. Everyone will watch for what further detailed communications emerge between the key departments, Health and Public Expenditure.
We have been over such ground before. More revelations may put senior politicians in a tricky place.
Sinn Féin may goad Fianna Fáil to back some kind of no-confidence motion in Mr Harris or even Mr Donohoe.
Brexit constrains the Opposition in taking the gloves off. But that could change.