Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson Louise O’Reilly says that the Minister for Health’s position is “untenable” and she is calling on Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin to declare if he has full confidence in Mr Harris.
She told RTE’s Morning Ireland that the Minister’s revelation on RTE’s Prime Time last night he was first aware of the overrun on the national children’s hospital in August was evidence of his policy of “drip feeding information.”
The Minister rejected criticism about why the information hadn't been revealed in the Dáil or during the negotiations on the Budget and renewing the confidence and supply agreement between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
He said the Taoiseach and Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure were informed of the situation 'at the appropriate moment' in November. He added that his department had been 'seeking to engage' with the Department of Public Expenditure in September and October.
Mr Harris said he believed he had behaved entirely appropriately and that it was clear that he retained the confidence of the Taoiseach. He didn't accept that he'd withheld information from the Dáil.
He said a collective decision had been made to proceed with the project adding that delaying the hospital or retendering it would have cost more money. He added that the hospital board refused the €200m requested by the contractor.
Ms O’Reilly questioned why the Minister for Health did not flag the issue of the cost over run to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform at an earlier stage.
“He was meeting Paschal Donohoe on a regular basis in the run up to the Budget, he should have flagged it. He should have indicated to the Minister for Finance that there was a serious over run, after all he holds the purse strings.
“For ten and a half weeks he kept that information, he didn’t share it with colleagues.”
She said the Minister had mislead the Dáil, withheld information and had not answered questions, so his position was untenable.
“Fianna Fáil have to come out and express confidence in this Minister, they have to let us know their position, they were not told during Budget negotiations. We need to know if Fianna Fáil have full confidence in the Minister.”
Ms O’Reilly accused the Minister of “drip feeding” information and revealing details to journalists before informing Dáil colleagues. “That’s not acceptable.”
