HARRIS ‘SORRY’ AS THE BLAME GAME SPREADS
Health Minister ready to correct record of the Dáil
HEALTH Minister Simon Harris is prepared to correct the Dáil record and show appropriate ‘contrition’ in an effort to defuse the political crisis over the National Children’s Hospital.
It comes after the Government’s chief spending watchdog contradicted an answer Taoiseach Leo Varadkar gave the Dáil this week about why a senior civil servant on the hospital board did not inform his boss, the Minister for Public Expenditure.
Blame for the crisis, which is entering its third week, is spreading, with the Department of Health and Department of Public Expenditure at loggerheads over an eightweek period in which Health officials
sought a meeting with their paymasters to discuss the capital crisis.
A senior DPER source last night tried to counter the spreading of the blame, insisting that it was not ‘a coincidence’ that Department of Health officials were negotiating a massive current spending overrun while, at the same time, the capital overrun remained shrouded in mystery.
But Health sources pointed to the fact that despite Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe being informed on November 9 last year, senior officials in his own department in charge of the Health capital spend seemed unaware of the overrun until November 20.
And to add to the rising sense of chaos, the Taoiseach last night stood accused of misleading the Dáil after an intervention by the Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) completely undermined his use of new corporate governance laws to deflect questions on the issue at leader’s questions last Tuesday.
The C&AG gave advice to the PAC on Thursday that contradicts the Taoiseach’s claims, made in the Dáil, that the State’s chief procurement officer Paul Quinn did not have to tell Mr Donohoe about the cost overruns.
Mr Varadkar was asked by Labour leader Brendan Howlin last Tuesday why Mr Quinn did not report back to Mr Donohoe, as required by Government rules. He told the Dáil that due to corporate governance laws, ‘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.’
Mr Varadkar said that it is ‘not individual board members acting on their own part’.
‘No problem reinforcing his contrition’
However, the Mail has learned that C&AG Seamus McCarthy, the State’s auditor, gave advice to the PAC that this was not the case as the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, which is tasked with building the National Children’s Hospital (NCH), is not a company. He said that because the NCH had been established by legislation any civil servant must report directly to his line minister with issues of concern to the State.
Mr McCarthy said: ‘The board is not a company and therefore company law does not apply. That’s my understanding.’
‘I was of the belief that a circular distributed by the Government to civil servants overrode the governance laws the Taoiseach cited last week,’ Alan Kelly TD told the PAC, ‘and the C&AG has confirmed that.
‘I think the Taoiseach has inadvertently misinformed the Dáil and he needs to correct that,’ said Mr Kelly. ‘But we need both the Taoiseach and Paschal Donohoe to explain exactly what the Department of Public Expenditure knew.
‘Why did this official, who sat on the board, not pass back concerns being raised about spiralling costs? Mr Donohoe must face responsibility for the confusion at DPER.’
Asked for a comment, a spokesman for An Taoiseach issued a statement from DPER instead. The statement seemed to suggest that the circular and the corporate governance laws should both have been followed in a complementary way.
A senior DPER source – close to Mr Donohoe – admitted that the guidelines did not work anyway ‘because the Minister for Finance didn’t know in the end… it definitely didn’t work’.
TDs want full disclosure about what senior officials at DPER knew about the massive costs overrun. So far, the focus has been on Health Minister Mr Harris’s knowledge of the cost overruns four months before they were made public.
Opposition TDs Alan Kelly and Barry Cowen say that revelations raise serious questions about Mr Donohoe’s management of the cost overruns and they want the Minister to return to the Dáil to explain.
Speaking to the MoS Mr Kelly said: ‘The Taoiseach and the Minister for Public Expenditure need to correct the record and explain why they think that this official was operating in a private capacity in light of what the C&AG has said. They need to explain totally how this official was on the board of the National Children’s Hospital and was well aware of the cost overruns and was still acting in a private capacity.
‘Even though the C&AG has confirmed that as a civil servant he was subject to Circular 12.10, and as a civil servant he should have reported this to his Secretary General or Minister.’
Last night the opposition continued to pile pressure on Mr Harris. Sinn Féin has called for him to resign and Fianna Fáil wants him to apologise to the Dáil for keeping information about overruns from TDs for four months.
Senior Fianna Fáil figures believe that when a list of 100 Government projects are cancelled because of the Children’s Hospital debacle the focus will shift back to Mr Harris again. The Taoiseach expressed confidence in Mr Harris on three occasions on Friday. But Mr Harris is expected to take the olive branch extended by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.
A Department of Health source told the MoS: ‘The Minister’s sense is that Fianna Fáil want him to show contrition for some aspect of the Children’s Hospital controversy. He is willing to show contrition for some aspects. He certainly will reinforce contrition for how Deputy
Barry Cowen was answered by parliamentary reply.’
But Mr Harris won’t give a full apology for everything to do with the National Children’s Hospital.
‘The big risk for the Government is that this spreads beyond Mr Harris. But by getting everything out there he has gotten rid of all the loose threads.’
Sources within Government have indicated that the Minister for Health outlined at the Health Committee how he would approach that parliamentary question again. And the Minister has no difficulty in making that clear in the Dáil again.
‘The Minister’s sense is that would be enough for Fianna Fáil, Fianna Fáil want him to show some contrition. If he was to answer the PQ again, he’d do it differently. He has no problem reinforcing and reiterating his contrition in the Dáil.’
Though many in Leinster House believe Mr Harris is still in danger of the ultimate political sanction there is a growing belief that the spreading of responsibility through the Government is helping him. Department of Health sources maintained that the emails released show that from September 2018, the relevant department officials were trying to inform DPER officials – but could not get an appointment.
But this led to a senior source at DPER hitting back, showing the deep divisions on the issue.
‘There is an effort out there to suggest that our department and Paschal were asleep at the wheel. I think it is not a coincidence that they were also negotiating a massive current overrun with us at the time.
‘The approach with Health was, get as much [money] as you can on the current side of things and come back and talk about capital and then queer the pitch.
‘During the period prior to last October’s Budget they would have met us loads of times, and none of that is reflected in the documents released.’
‘Officials met loads of times pre-Budget’