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OFFICIALS HAVE REFUSED to disclose the updated cost of building the new National Children’s Hospital, as it emerged that the opening date has been pushed back to the second half of 2024.
David Gunning, chief officer of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), said that even a hypothetical discussion on costs would prejudice the existing contract with construction company BAM.
The hospital, which is being built on the site of St James’s Hospital in Dublin, has been beset by spiralling costs that have escalated to 1.433 billion euro.
However, with no update on the projected costs, some TDs believe that could rise to two billion euro.
Sinn Fein’s David Cullinane said it is “disappointing” that Department of Health and hospital officials have not provided updated costs and clarity around timeframes for the project.
“It is disappointing that the statements from the department and Mr Gunning is that we won’t be in a position to get answers,” he added.
The contracted completion date for the hospital was August 2022; however the revised target date is now December 2023.
Mr Gunning said the temporary shutdown of the site due to Covid restrictions has delayed work by some 14 months.
He told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health it “more than likely” it will now open to the public in the second half of 2024.
“But that is conditioned by the risks that are currently in the construction sector, in terms of resource availability, and supply of necessary materials,” he said.
While Cabinet approved the more recent cost of 1.433 billion euro, that sum does not include a number of outstanding costs including construction inflation and hundreds of outstanding claims.
Today, the committee heard that the number of claims has now grown to 900.
Mr Gunning said he could not provide the number of settled claims; however he later gave the committee updated figures.
“Fifteen of the hundreds of claims have come through conciliation, and, of those, nine have been agreed and the amount involved is about 2.5 million euros,” he added.
“Six of those we have issued a notice of dissatisfaction and they will go the High Court.”
Mr Cullinane was critical of the lack of information provided to the committee.
“There is a vacuum of accountability and transparency around this project,” he said.
“The estimated costs of the claims will be in the region of 200 million so it’s reasonable for me to ask what is settled and what is the cost of those claims.”
Cullinane later added: “It has been eight months since you last appeared and the update we have got is deeply unsatisfactory.
“This saga of building this hospital goes from one mess to the next.”
Fine Gael senator Martin Conway was also critical of the position taken by the board officials.
“The answers to the questions of Deputy Cullinane are nothing short of disgraceful,” he said.
Social Democrats co-leader Roisin Shortall said it is “really disappointing” that they could not give an update on estimated costs.
“At this stage, you are still working on a completely unrealistic figure of 1.433 billion,” she said.
Mr Gunning told Ms Shortall there is a moratorium on the dispute processes on all new and current claims.
“I get the impression that you are storing up a lot of costs and trouble for the future, and the issues are not being dealt with now,” Ms Shortall added.
“This project is going to continue to be a runaway train and nothing I have heard today gives me an assurance that is not going to be the case, that costs have been brought under control.”
However, Mr Gunning said there is a “robust” system in place to defend the claims.
Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny asked Mr Gunning whether the board believes BAM is under-performing.
Mr Gunning replied: “We have an interesting relationship with the contractor. Having set off on this contract a number of years ago, the intention was to be collaborative and co-operative. In the middle of all the claims and commercial disputes that didn’t work out as planned.
“We are trying to recover that.
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A mess from the start, wrong location, poorly designed leading to cost overrun, badly tendered resulting in excessive claims and badly managed. An utter mess from the start.
@Jason Walsh: And no one left accountable or sacked, great wee country we have
@Jason Walsh: an architects vanity project, that’s what it is, it would be a quarter the cost and finished months ago if it was the shape of a hospital, not a fishbowl
@Random_paddy: yup, it’s a hospital not a landmark building, simple functional box shape note then good enough
This project will be over 3billion by the time they’re done. All on a hospital that’s in the wrong location to begin with. It must be the single biggest waste of taxpayers money since the foundation of the state. All brought to you through years of successive FF and FG governments with their brown envelopes and back handers. And still the sheep will vote.
@Declan Doherty: You can double that. And that’s before the place has been fitted out with technology, beds and equipment which will cost another fortune. We’ll probably hear some nonsense about it opening in “stages”. A euphemism for “we’re broke, so we’ll open one ward and it’ll be someone else’s problem to sort out the rest of the mess.
@Arch Angel: I can assure you that there will not be any delay on opening the private section first.
@Arch Angel: and the wasted money has no doubt eaten away at the staffing funding
Sure only the people who are paying for it need to know the cost. Wait, that’s us. Fiddlesticks
Putting career politicians and civil servants in charge of your country is not clever, thats our fault….these are people with no experience of working in private sector for years with the pressure of meeting targets on Capex and Opex wrt projects.. they have no idea how to do a “real ” job.. of course contractors will run rings around all of them.. career politicans are simply PR people, nothing else.. would you put students straight out of college in charge of a country? Thats what we have done..zilch real experience..
@John Bathe: Politics has long been a haven for the uneducated. The private sector is where intelligent qualified individuals end up, often paid on results. All that is ok until one realises the level of power being afforded to these elected dullards. Frightening levels of incompetence. Not sure how that can be remedied.
What happened to the The Freedom of Information Act 2014?
The world of public sector procurement and programme management. Imagine walking into your pay masters in a private sector company and being asked how much is this programme that your leading going to cost and when will it complete? An answer of “I don’t know” gets you a P45 sends you to the dole queue. If you don’t know the answer to fundamental questions such as the project budget and completion timeframe then you have lost control of the project. Absolutely shambolic and a shameful waste of taxpayers money. Where is the accountability on this?
@GrumpyAulFella: No one is, nor will there ever be anyone held accountable. That’s whats so attractive because these chancers are pretty much unemployable in the real world. It would be hilarious if it were not so serious. Just look at the elected TD’s. A 2 watt bulb is brighter.
To put into some context. The Burj Khalifa cost half this fully furnished. There are only 15 other buildings on the planet that have cost more than this building and that includes 3 palaces, all of the new One World Trade Centre (NY). This is a joke.
Can we do anything right ?
@hellsbells: we were very good at complaining from our bar high stools but unfortunately they took them away from us too !
How can a hospital that was approved with an original bid of €650million in 2014 now be heading towards a 2 billion euro final bill. If they were that far out on the costs it doesn’t say much for the decision making. The location is all wrong and has been a huge factor in the costs all along but the original bid sought to overlook and downplay that and say same site regeneration can be done we don’t need to look for a more suitable greenfield site. Notwithstanding that the Royal Liverpool hospital rebuild came in below the €750m mark for a 600 bed facility.
OMFG…..sometimes there truly are no words.
Dunno why everyone’s complaining. Try building a house, everything here is overpriced
It’s a never ending money pit and no one will ever be held accountable. Disgraceful.
The death of a cyclist near the hospital , the cost , the delay , the place is jinxed .
If your child comes out of it then it’s worth every cent
@Peter: what about the unfortunate children that never had the opportunity to even go to this hospital because of huge over-run and delays? A standard construction instead of one of the most expensive buildings in the world (there will only be 15 more expensive buildings than this when finished) could have already been completed and saving lives already. Another shame on Ireland and our government.
@Peter: The money wasted could have been better spent on extra consultants and cutting edge equipment, treatment’s. A building on its own will not help a sick child. Budget, my dear chap, Budget.
The price going up? Well I never!
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