The Taoiseach’s comments that Ireland is not a “pushover” when it comes to the National Children’s Hospital cost overruns are “laughable”, a Sinn Féin TD has said.
David Cullinane said no-one knows when the mammoth project would open to treat sick children, adding that there was “no confidence” in what the final cost would be.
A fresh focus on the long-running dispute over the children’s hospital has emerged after Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly sent a letter to the Taoiseach and senior ministers on Friday to outline concerns.
Mr Donnelly accused the main contractor BAM of “holding the State to ransom” and wanting to extract “as much money from the Irish taxpayer as possible” – which the company strongly rejected and called an “irresponsible” claim.
After a €500 million top-up was sanctioned by the Cabinet in February, the total funds allocated to the project is at €2.2 billion; the Government has insisted that no further budget increases would be sanctioned.
The hospital – which when completed could be the most expensive hospital in the world – has missed more than a dozen timelines to date.
The latest timeline was for the site at St James’s Hospital to be completed by October 29th this year, with commissioning likely taking another six months.
Mr Donnelly has indicated to government colleagues that this timeline has been pushed back once again, as the major row deepens between the main contractor and the Irish Government over the “state-of-the-art” project.
Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman said: “I can absolutely understand the frustration of taxpayers, of parents who want to see this hugely important, high-tech facility open, operational and available to their children.
“I can also say there is huge frustration across Government in terms of the approach that the developer has taken to the building, to the construction, and to the continuing elongation of the timelines here.”
He added: “When you look at the questions about the level of resourcing that has been put into the development of the Children’s Hospital, particularly over recent years, it does seem that there isn’t a sufficient level of resourcing being undertaken by the developer.”
He said that there was “no mechanism” in law to limit state contracts being awarded to contractors based on its previous performance, and said “it is very hard to defend that same contractor getting other valuable state contracts”.
Mr Cullinane said the Government has been “a soft touch” on the Children’s Hospital and said the Taoiseach’s comments that the State was not “a pushover” on the cost overruns was “laughable”.
“If I was in his position, with the greatest respect to the Taoiseach or the Minister for Health, I would be holding weekly meetings to hold to account the contractor and the board,” he said on Monday.
“They can’t say on the one hand that the contractor is trying to extract additional revenue from the state, but then wash their hands and say ‘well, there’s nothing I can do about it’, pin it all on the board – they are signing the cheque.
“What I’m seeing from the Minister for Health and from Simon Harris is they’re commentating, as opposed to actually rolling up their sleeves and doing what they should be doing.”
He said that the Government “cannot say this is not going to cost us more” when it was unclear when the project would be finished.
He added: “It’s just not realistic for any politician in government to stick their chests out and say ‘we’re not going to hand over more money’. They have handed over far too much as it is, well over budget, and now are telling us that it’s not going to cost us any more.”
Among the main issues of contention are the resources allocated to build the hospital, the standard of construction itself and whether the changes that have been suggested are significant.
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) has claimed that BAM has “never resourced this project sufficiently”, stating that 612 productive operatives on site last month was “unacceptable”.
BAM has said it has always been fully resourced and that it is at around 50 per cent above the level expected for this late stage of the project.
The NPHDB has said BAM has insisted that hospital rooms are “complete when they are incomplete” and said the “largest source of design change during the contract has been led by BAM”.
BAM said it is “fully confident” in the quality of the construction work and said the “de-snagging of minor issues” has been affected by the level of “client-instructed change”.
The total amount allocated to the children’s hospital includes millions of euro for an expected pay-out to the contractor over ongoing disputes, as well as other contingency funding.
Mr Donnelly said in February that around 2.7 per cent of all claims had been awarded in favour of BAM.
