It’s time for Harris to apologise and explain

DESPITE the pressure he is under, there is no real short-term threat to Simon Harris’s tenure as Minister for Health. With the clocking ticking down towards a no-deal Brexit, and all the obvious implications of this for Ireland, Fianna Fáil is correct not to precipitate a crisis at a time when holding the line is so vital.

That said, what has emerged is far from edifying. It is quite clear now that the minister knew of massive cost overruns last August, but chose to remain silent until November. The official explanation is that he was waiting for precise numbers on the inflated costs.

There is, however, the perception, whether real or not, that the lid was kept on the news in advance of the third and last Budget under the confidence-and-supply agreement, since to release it would have blown a hole in the Department of Finance’s plans and impaired voterfriendly tax cuts just as everyone started gearing up for an election.

Minister Harris could have been more forthright, and his explanation of why he did not inform the general public is Jesuitical at best. Whether he thought it would be a €200million, €300million or €400million overspend is not the issue, because any one of those figures, low to high, is still eye-watering.

His job might be safe for now, but at the very least he owes an apology to the Dáil and to the electorate, and should seek forgiveness for not being open much earlier.

Above all, though, everyone in Leinster House must learn from this, and understand why it should never have happened in the first place. It is vitally important that we find out what happened at every stage of the process, and what was sanctioned and by whom. And when we know that, the entire system of tendering and oversight must be amended to make sure this never happens again.