The saga over the building of Ireland’s new National Children’s Hospital has descended from fiasco into farce, TDs have been told.
Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane challenged the Government to confirm that no more public funds would be committed to the project until there was certainty on a completion date.
In response, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said the Government was committed to the project but added that cost claims had to be tested, even if that means delay.
The plan to build the paediatric hospital in Dublin has been beset by controversy in recent years over how much it will cost and the repeated delays to when it will be in operation.
Last week it emerged the planned handover date from the contractor BAM is to be pushed back from March next year to May, while the cost of the hospital is spiralling.
The Covid-19 pandemic further disrupted project timelines.
Representatives from the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), appointed in 2013 to design and build the hospital, revealed this week that just 27 rooms had been completed when 3,000 should have been completed by now.
Raising the issue during Dáil leaders’ questions, Mr Cullinane said the hospital would be a “game-changer” when it is finally completed.
He added: “I want to see this hospital built and opened as soon as possible.
“But the long-running saga of the new children’s hospital, a fiasco from the start, has now descended into farce.
“There is no certainty about a final cost or a final completion date.”
Mr Cullinane told TDs that the board was looking for “hundreds of millions of more money” to continue the project.
He said: “I have no confidence that this hospital will be open and ready and treating patients in 2024, I think it is a certainty now it will be 2025, and god knows when in that year.
“The board and the contractor are now openly at war and all the while the costs are rising.”
Mr Cullinane added: “I am sure you would accept we cannot simply continue to write cheques with no guarantees.
“Can I ask you will you commit more money to this project without any certainty on completion dates and can you tell us how much additional funding has been sought by the board beyond the 1.7 billion euro already committed?”
Micheál Martin said the Government had a clear focus on getting the hospital completed as well as achieving value for money.
He also said there had been “tensions” between the contractor and the board over cost claims for the project.
He said: “Claims have been made now, but the claims have been challenged every step of the way and that is right.
“There shouldn’t be compromise on contesting those claims. If that means delay, so be it.”
The Tánaiste added: “You could cut corners, you could say let’s not contest these claims, let’s give more to hurry up and accelerate the completion but that game is over.
“Contractors have responsibility, the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board has responsibilities, it is charged with delivering this project.
“In my view, painful as it is, unsatisfactory as it is in terms of completion timeframes, we need to stick with the process and not create leverage for anybody to see weaknesses on the state side.”
He added: “We have to be hard, fair, we want the hospital completed, but if claims have been made that are not sustainable then they have to be tested, that means arbitration, it means mediation, that is slow.”
