‘Great frustration' – National Children's Hospital won't treat patients until June 2026 after 15 delays on €2.24bn build
THE first patients will not be treated in Ireland's new €2.24 billion National Children's Hospital until at least June 2026.
The infamous project has been delayed 15 TIMES with cost overruns spiralling out of control.
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Images of the inside of the new hospital
Credit: PR Handout image
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The hospital has faces 15 delays - and now won't treat patients until at least June 2026
Credit: PR Handout image
The development board of the new hospital is locked in legal disputes with builder BAM over a series of financial claims.
Today the Dail Public Accounts Committee was told the new
And officials admitted that they could not pledge that this will be the final delay to the botched project.
Children's Health Ireland Chief Executive Lucy Nugent said: 'The best optimum date would be the end of June of 2026.'
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The committee also heard from the chief Executive of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, David Gunning.
He said: 'This further delay is a cause of great frustration.'
It is the
Gunning told the committee the contractor maintains the delays are caused by design change, but he disagreed with this.
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He estimated that it was costing €2 million per month of delay.
Amid outcry, Opposition parties today blasted the Government over the shocking cost overruns for the new National Children's Hospital and yet another delay in its completion.
HEATED DEBATE
Tanaiste
Under fierce questioning from Aontu's Peadar Toibin during Leaders' Questions in the Dail, Harris said: 'Of course I am responsible. I am responsible for bringing the decision to cabinet. I am going to be responsible for a world class facility.'
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Harris fired back at Toibin, snapping: 'Nobody gets everything right in politics…as you sit over there and correct everybody's homework.'
The Fine Gael leader continued: 'You rehearsed your lines that you must practice in front of the mirror in the morning. I am responsible, of course I am responsible.
"I am responsible for bringing the proposal to cabinet, I am responsible for recommending we proceed.
'BLAME-SHIFTING'
"And the easiest thing to do in politics if you don't want to get into any challenging situation is never make a decision.
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'I am also going to be responsible for a world class facility, we are going to be responsible for transforming children's healthcare.'
But Toibin fumed that Harris was like 'an under-pressure estate agent furiously trying to sell an over-priced, extortionate, exorbitant hospital to an increasingly angry population'.
The Aontu boss described the NCH as 'a monument to Fianna Fail and Fine Gael waste and blame-shifting."
And Toibin told Harris: 'Your fingers are all over this … accountability and yourself are like oil and water.'
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