Health Dept refuses to clarify lack of public announcement following resignation of State’s chief procurement officer

The Department of Health has refused to clarify why it did not make a public announcement following the shock resignation of the State’s chief procurement officer, who failed to flag the spiralling costs of the National Children’s Hospital.

As previously reported by the Irish Examiner, the resignation of Paul Quinn, who led procurement reform programme across the public sector, was noted in the August minutes of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board.

With the project already €455m over budget and with costs set to rise further, Mr Quinn’s resignation is one of a number of high-profile resignations from the board in the wake of increasing costs.

On Tuesday, Richard Bruton, Minister for Communications, said that Simon Harris, Minister for Health was aware of Mr Quinn’s resignation in August.

“I understand that is a decision (Paul Quinn) signalled back in August to the Minister, I don’t know more about it than that," Minister Bruton told RTÉ.

Mr Quinn was a member of the board in a personal capacity, he added.

However, an announcement about Mr Quinn's resignation was not made public at the time. Earlier this year, chairman, Tom Costello, and project director, John Pollack, resigned from the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board in February and April, respectively.

Previous chairs of the board to resign include Philip Lynch in 2010 and John Gallagher in 2011.

Mr Quinn's resignation comes as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar signalled in a letter to Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin, that there may be more overspending on the hospital.

Mr Varadkar also confirmed that BAM is seeking additional money for work which was not included in the original scope of works.

At the time of publication, the Department of Health had not responded to the Irish Examiner.