Watt takes 'ultimate responsibility' for keeping National Children's Hospital progress secret

In February of this year, Robert Watt told the committee - in response to it asking who had been responsible for the decision not to provide it with the report – that “there was not a single decision point as to whether or not this analysis could or should be furnished to the committee”. File photo: Gareth Chaney/ Collins

The secretary-general of the Department of Health has told the Public Accounts Committee he accepts “ultimate responsibility” for a decision to keep secret the ongoing progress of the National Children’s Hospital build.

Robert Watt said that as its accounting officer, the overall responsibility for a decision to withhold a report on the hospital construction’s progress must lie with him. The build has run massively over budget and is years behind schedule.

In February 2021, the PAC was told by the National Paediatric Health Development Board (NPHDB) - the body with responsibility for the €1.7 billion hospital - that a detailed report on the project compiled by the Department would be available within the following month.

This report did not come to pass. Mr Watt, who took over his role in April of last year,  subsequently said publishing “commercially sensitive” budgetary and timeline information about the hospital would be “very damaging to the State’s interests”.

The PAC had previously informed Mr Watt that it did not believe his previous responses on the matter had aligned with commitments given to the committee during his appearance before it last December. 

In February of this year, Mr Watt told the committee - in response to it asking who had been responsible for the decision not to provide it with the report – that “there was not a single decision point as to whether or not this analysis could or should be furnished to the committee”.

In his latest correspondence with the committee, Mr Watt said: “I don’t believe that the responses are not aligned.”

He said he wished to “reiterate” his previous response that no single decision led to the report being withheld from the PAC, but nevertheless said that “ultimate responsibility for this would lie with me”.