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Sunday 20 September 2020
Taoiseach Micheal Martin appealed to the contractor and those working on building the hospital to get back on site.
BAM released a statement saying that it was excluded from the government’s Covid-19 ex-gratia payments, which it called “unfair”.
Tom Parlon made the claim on Tuesday to the Oireachtas Special Committee on Covid-19 Response.
Labour TD Duncan Smith said such an increase would be “astronomical”.
The dispute relates around the validity of a contract to commence Phase B of construction of the Children’s Hospital without a design.
The contractors had been criticised for continuing construction at the site after new government guidelines.
We looked at more of the claims made during last night’s last leaders debate.
The €1.73 billion project has almost three years of construction-time left.
The Public Accounts Committee met in the Oireachtas today.
The fact some measures of the project remain uncosted is ‘laughable’ says Labour’s Alan Kelly.
One local councillor says local residents feel “under siege” from the constant construction work near their homes.
The project has been mired in controversy over spiralling costs.
The majority of the money will go to the fund, while €429,000 is to be paid to the National Children’s Hospital.
Leo Varadkar insisted some politicians had been “scaremongering” over the children’s hospital overspend.
The Department of Health has said the opening hours of the new unit have not yet been finalised.
The hospital board will appear before an Oireachtas committee today.
It emerged this month that the facility will be built to honour a 2008 contract with consultants.
The firm was found to have ‘high level’ input into a decision to continue with constructing the project last year.
John Pollock is the second senior figure to leave the project in as many months.
“The day of just two will do is no longer acceptable,” Dr Michael Harty, chair of the Oireachtas Health Committee, told TheJournal.ie.
Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane said there is a level of contempt being shown to Oireachtas committees.
Speaking about Brexit, the Taoiseach also said that he’s “not surprised” that he’s the “boogeyman” of the British media.
Calls have been made by a number of committees for Watt to appear before them to outline DEPR’s role in the children’s hospital project.
The Sinn Féin motion was tabled in response to the controversy surrounding the increasing costs of constructing the National Children’s Hospital.
‘As we cry in frustration over the recurring ineptitude of the state to deliver decent public healthcare service for citizens’ Maebh Ní Fhallúin examines how we got here.
The company also said it did not benefit inappropriately from the tender process.
Mick Wallace told the Dáil the ultimate cost of the hospital could be in excess of €2.2 billion.
Work is underway to ensure the public procurement process is more robust, particularly for large-scale projects.
An audit of departmental spending has been undertaken with savings to come from eight departments.
Harris is facing a motion of no confidence from Sinn Féin next week.
Fianna Fáil has said it won’t support a potential no-confidence motion in the health minister.
The controversy over the costs of the project is just the latest in a series of problems to affect the project
Documents show Harris was informed in August that the budget for the hospital could overrun by €391 million.
Pressure has been mounting on government all week about who knew what when about the hospital costs.
Harris maintained his claim that he was not aware of the project’s rising costs until August 2018.
Paschal Donohoe admitted it would have been ‘helpful’ to have been informed of the cost overruns as it developed.
Pressure is mounting on the Department of Public Expenditure about its role in project oversight.
Minister for Finance Donohoe, told Morning Ireland that the escalating costs of the children’s hospital should have been known earlier.
Varadkar said the terms of reference of the review would be changed.
MORE THAN THREE-quarters of people would support the government looking into the prospect of a four-day work week, according to a new survey.
This means doing the same job for the same salary, but over four days rather than five.
There have been calls for this idea to be explored already and the Four Day Week Ireland campaign today released details on its public attitude survey conducted last month.
Two out of three respondents said a four-day work week is “realistic and achievable” in the medium term.
67% of employers said they support the idea and 46% said it would be “feasible” to trial in their workplace.
“The four-day week, with no loss of pay, offers the potential of a genuinely better future for workers and employers alike,” said Joe O’Connor, director of campaigning with Fórsa trade union.
What may once have seemed like a radical concept is now, for many, a reasonable and rational ambition. The Covid-19 pandemic has further disrupted societal and workplace norms, while illustrating the potential for very different models of work.
So today we’re asking: Would you support a four-day work week?
Poll Results:
Share your story: voices@thejournal.ie
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'I'm happy for the project to continue': Simon Harris rules out re-tendering children's hospital
The Minister was responding to a statement by BAM that suggested it would pull out of the contract if the Government wanted.
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