The National Children’s Hospital project, a venture mired in controversy and plagued by persistent delays, has once again seen its projected completion date pushed back. The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board confirmed this week that the April 30 deadline would not be met, marking the eighteenth setback in a saga spanning over two decades.
The genesis of this ambitious project can be traced back to 1993, when the Royal College of Physicians first put forward the concept of a tertiary children’s hospital. Fast forward to 2005, and then Health Minister Mary Harney commissioned a review, leading to Chief Executive of the HSE, Professor Brendan Drumm, advocating for the hospital to be located in Dublin. The following year, the Mater hospital’s campus was identified as the chosen site, with consultancy firm McKinsey advising on the consolidation of the nation’s three existing children’s hospitals into this new facility.
However, the path forward proved far from smooth. By 2011, the project had already encountered significant hurdles, exacerbated by resignations within the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board itself. Despite these challenges, the then Minister for Health, James O’Reilly, lodged a planning application for the Mater site. This application was ultimately refused, with concerns raised about the site’s insufficient size and inadequate traffic access. Consequently, St. James’s Hospital emerged as the proposed new location for the facility.
With a new site secured, planning permission for St. James’s was submitted in 2015. At this juncture, the estimated cost for the project stood at €650 million, with an anticipated completion date of 2020. The Government subsequently approved a €983 million construction budget in April 2017. However, this figure began to escalate rapidly, with costs increasing by €200 million by August of the same year and a further €450 million by November.
These spiralling costs did not go unnoticed. In 2019, both the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Oireachtas Health Committee initiated investigations into the substantial cost overruns. By this point, the projected expenditure had tripled its initial estimate. A review conducted by PwC revealed the alarming possibility of the total cost soaring to as much as €1.7 billion. Then Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, attributed these escalating expenses to a confluence of factors, including the general cost of construction, delays, the implementation of higher building standards, and Value Added Tax (VAT).
The COVID-19 pandemic brought further disruption, with construction activities being paused from 2020. Amidst these delays, the development board took legal action against BAM, the construction firm, seeking €20 million for alleged underperformance under their contract. Adding to the leadership turmoil, Fred Barry became the fourth chairperson of the development board to resign from his post.
More recent developments have only deepened concerns. In 2023, it was revealed that BAM’s proposed plan for the hospital’s completion did not align with the contractual terms. While a completion date of March 2024 had been tentatively set, its feasibility was increasingly doubtful. In response, the development board announced it would withhold 15% of payments due to BAM, citing the ongoing dispute. As of 2024, the hospital’s total cost has ballooned to approximately €2.2 billion, with an opening date now projected for 2026.
Compounding the issues, in June 2024, reports surfaced detailing BAM’s international track record, which indicated a pattern of budget overruns and significant engineering errors on previous projects. The following month, further disheartening revelations emerged. A consultant, deeply distressed after touring the hospital’s current state, expressed profound embarrassment, stating that the rooms offered no improvement on existing facilities and that they would be ashamed to admit patients.
On Wednesday, the Oireachtas Committee on Health received the latest update, confirming that the substantial completion date of April 30 would indeed not be achieved. While the company is expected to provide a new timeline within the next fortnight, committee chair Pádraig Rice expressed a sobering prognosis, suggesting that the hospital might not be operational until spring, or possibly even autumn, of 2027.
Beyond the persistent delays in construction, the committee also heard about critical issues plaguing the building itself. A particularly noisy ventilation system has been identified as a significant concern, posing a direct threat to the delivery of clinical services. Furthermore, once construction is finally declared complete, regardless of when that may be, the hospital will require an additional seven months for a commissioning period before it can officially open its doors to patients. The long and arduous journey towards a functional National Children’s Hospital continues, with no clear end in sight.
