National Children's Hospital board accused of 'poor governance' for redacting minutes of meetings

Brian Stanley, Pac chair, said: 'The fact there are two whole meetings redacted, obviously that a concern.' Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The board of the National Children's Hospital has been accused of "poor governance and poor practice" for entirely redacting the minutes of a number of its meetings.

The latest tranche of minutes published does not cover the past three months and two of the six meetings between May and July have been completely withheld due to what the board say are "commercially sensitive reasons".

But the partial minutes reveal the board was repeatedly warned of extra costs and delays as far back as May when it met with construction company BAM twice.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has called for an urgent meeting with the board of the hospital and the secretary-general of the Department of Health to explain the latest issues with the project, which has been dogged by delays and spiralling costs.

Members of PAC have hit out at the board for the lack of up-to-date information on the building project as well as the redaction of minutes of their meetings.

PAC chair Brian Stanley said: "I can understand some parts being redacted for commercially sensitive reasons but the fact that there are two whole meetings redacted, obviously that a concern."

This was echoed by Fianna Fáil TD Marc MacSharry who described it as "poor governance and poor practice".

"We expect these minutes would be published to keep the public informed and one wonders in the first instance why there were substantial redactions and secondly why the sporadic nature of the availability publicly of minutes?"

The board met with the contractor twice in May, during which concerns around delays and extra costs were discussed.

During the first meeting on May 12, BAM "set out its view of the implications of the current Covid-19 crisis and the impact that this would have on time frames and cost estimates for the project."

Referring to the second meeting on May 25, the minutes state that "an update was provided in relation to concerns relayed by the main contractor regarding additional risks and cost arising from Covid-19."