Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD today called on the Minister for Health to intervene to compel the HSE to release smear slides to women affected by the CervicalCheck controversy so they can be independently reviewed.
“The roll-out of the National Broadband Plan is the next vital piece of communications infrastructure in this country and it is vital that when the contract is awarded there are no questions left hanging regarding the robustness of the process.”
The Public Accounts Committee has accepted a request from Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy to quiz Department of Communications officials on the tendering of the contract for the National Broadband Plan.
Catherine Murphy asked the public spending watchdog to consider why some companies exited the tender process and also to review the circumstances which preceded the opening of the tender process. She said the process to date had been “opaque” and that vast amounts of money had already been spent with very little to show for it.
Speaking about her request to the committee Catherine Murphy said:
“It is absolutely fair to point out that the entire tendering process has substantially changed since it first began. We now find ourselves in a situation where some parties have exited the process leaving only one party vying for the lucrative contract.
“In addition, the one remaining consortium has itself changed substantially since it first entered the process. I also think we need explanations about the circumstances which preceded the process, including the contract for the MAN’s and how that might have affected the valuation of Enet and the State’s subsequent purchase of a large portion of Enet.
“The roll-out of the NBP is the next vital piece of communications infrastructure in this country and it is vital that when the contract is awarded there are no questions left hanging regarding the robustness of the process. Too often in Ireland we ask the pertinent questions after the fact and end up dealing with legacy issues so this time I am asking that we address those questions before the contract is awarded.”
27th September 2018