Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure Robert Watt
🚨 The Oireachtas finance committee has cancelled today’s meeting into the National Broadband Plan, after Dept of Public Expenditure sec-gen Robert Watt declined to attend… He says ministers and officials have attended already, and he’s going to the Comms committee next week
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) June 18, 2019
… though I hear that, at the same time the Finance committee WOULD have been hearing from him in public session, Watt is also attending the Oireachtas Communications committee in private session!…
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) June 18, 2019
Secretary General at the Department of Robert Watt previously called for the procurement process into the National Broadband Plan to be cancelled.
Despite his warning, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe signed off on it.
Meanwhile…
Yesterday…
Also looking forward to Robert Watt’s appearance in front of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform tomorrow afternoon and whether he will reveal any of his “career ending” views on the National Broadband Plan 👀
— Donal Palcic (@DonalPalcic) June 17, 2019
Hmmm.
Previously: ‘A Harvey Smith To The Committee’
‘The Procurement Process Should Be Cancelled’
‘How Could They Get It So Cheap?’
This meeting was put in the diary last week, and you don’t publish a schedule with a named individual to attend a committee hearing unless (1) they have been invited and (2) they have accepted. And this would particularly apply to Robert Watt because he’s been a reluctant witness to accept previous invitations from committees.
So, the presumption must be that Robert Watt agreed to attend the meeting last week but cancelled at the last minute this morning. So the secretary general at the Department of Public Expenditure has told the Oireachtas committee on (finance and) public expenditure to do one? “Career ending” is right.
He should have lost 3.6 billion down the back of the couch.
Would have propelled him to Europe.
On another note , for some perspective on cost of the NBB plan and childrens hospital
The New Safe Confinement Shelter protecting Chernobyl was completed in 2018 at a cost of 1.5bn
But I guess wires on poles and a hospital building are more complicated than cleaning up a Nuclear accident site…
As of 2018, the New Safe Confinement is the world’s largest movable land-based structure.
Is this the dumbest comment of all time?
Is this?
lol
https://images.app.goo.gl/nKF52U78T5LcVwJX8
Funny that.