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Fears Children's Hospital Could Cost €2.2billion

Laura Donnelly
Laura Donnelly

04:47 12 Jul 2023


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Just 27 rooms at the National Children's Hospital have been completed, out of a target of 3,000.

The board of the hospital has told the Oireachtas Health Committee that the contractor for the build, BAM, has failed to provide a progress report since February.

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board has added BAM achieved 67% of its planned output levels in the last 12 months.

While the company behind the development of the hospital believes the cost of building it will be approaching €2.2 billion.

The Oireachtas Health Committee has heard BAM has submitted over 2,100 additional claims at a cost of €756 million, on top of the current committed capital spend of €1.4 euro from the State.

The board of the hospital told the Committee that of those, 16 claims relate to a total cost of €573 million.

The National Paediatric Health Development Board appeared before the Oireachtas this morning, where Taoiseach Leo Varadkar admitted the hospital is now likely to cost far more than the €1.433 billion that was previously set aside for it.

He says: "That allocation was made back in 2018 and hasn't been increased since. It is going to cost more than that."

In a statement this evening the contractor says: "BAM categorically rejects any allegations of under-performance and under-resourcing on the New Children’s Hospital project.

"The firm and our work on the project is fully resourced for the planned work scope. Any suggestion that BAM is deliberately not committing adequate resources to the project or is in any way slowing down delivery of the hospital is untrue.  As the Board told the Committee today, the tireless work of BAM, its project staff and supply chain partners has driven the build phase to more than 85% completion to date."

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