New provocation - Children’s hospital resignation

For those who cling to a Progressive Democrats’ — remember them? — disdain for the public services’ capacity to do their job efficiently, the new, stuttering national children’s hospital is the gift that keeps on giving.

Beset by problem after problem, fought over by various interests unaccustomed to the idea that their will and interests might not prevail, the project offers provocation after provocation to those who hardly need provocation.

The latest is the resignation of the State’s chief procurement officer from the hospital’s development board. Paul Quinn achieved a degree of notoriety when he decided Government did not need to know about the project’s escalating costs, a decision which caused considerable friction.

That friction was exacerbated when he chose not to tell the Oireachtas PAC he was a hospital board member but not as representative of Government, but rather “because of his procurement expertise”. This project is defined by gross failures of accountability and runaway costs.

So much so, the dire prospect of disinterring the PDs might have to be considered.