€2.2bn National Children's Hospital could be ready sooner but not enough workers are on site, PAC hears
The number of workers on the site of the National Children's Hospital has fallen by one-third since the beginning of the year, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been told.
The National Children's Hospital has been repeatedly beset by delays and cost overruns. It was originally set to cost €987million but is now expected to cost €2.2billion.
The relationship between construction firm BAM and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), which oversees the project, has grown increasingly fractious. The number of workers on the site of the National Children's Hospital has fallen by one-third since the beginning of the year, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been told. Pic: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin
Answering questions from Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly, the project director at the NPHDB, Phelim Devine, said there were roughly 750 workers on the site of the hospital last autumn, when BAM 'gave a commitment' that the project would be complete by June 2025.
Mr Devine said that 'there was a bump' in staffing levels in the months that followed, with 900 'productive resources' working on the project at the end of 2024.
'But since January of this year it has been slowly dropping off every month and we are down to less than 600 productive resources,' Mr Devine told the PAC, adding: '[BAM] are not meeting their commitments.' David Gunning, chief executive of the NPHDB. Pic: Sam Boal/Collins Photos
David Gunning, chief executive of the NPHDB, said it was possible to 'get this hospital done by September 30', but only 'if the appropriate resourcing is provided to get it done'.
Those resources are not there 'at the moment', he said. 'But that doesn't mean it can't be provided.'
The comments came as executives from the NPHDB insisted that the project was not being 'properly resourced' by the contractor. The PAC heard yesterday that, in the past seven months, developer
BAM had achieved only around 60% of its planned progress. The National Children's Hospital has been repeatedly beset by delays and cost overruns. Pic: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin
This has moved the completion deadline from June to September 30 – the 15th time the completion date has been delayed, according to the NPHDB.
Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty told the Dáil the hospital had become 'an epic saga'.
'The deadline for opening this hospital has been missed 15 times – 15 times. Like, that's crazy. Crazy,' he told Tánaiste Simon Harris during Leaders' Questions.
'Responding to the committee hearing, a spokesman for BAM said: 'Following a meeting with then-minister for health Stephen Donnelly in early October 2024, BAM indicated that substantial completion of the NCH could be achieved by June 2025 if no further design changes were made. In the seven months since that meeting, in the region of 70 significant change orders, each of which can include multiple design changes, have been issued to BAM.'
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