NATIONAL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL contractor BAM has hit back at claims that it is seeking to “extract as much money from the Irish taxpayer as possible” and “holding the state to ransom”, as Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly put it to the Taoiseach in a letter on Friday. 

In Donnelly’s letter, he said that it was in the view of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, which is responsible for the hospital, that BAM was approaching the project on the basis of “extracting as much money from the Irish taxpayer as possible”.

The National Children’s Hospital, which is now years overdue, has cost the state €2.2 billion to date. It had previously been marked for completion in 2020 with a budget of €650 million. 

Now, it is expected to welcome patients in 2026. 

Minister Donnelly, and his predecessors in the role, current and former Taoisigh Simon Harris and Leo Varadkar, have faced widespread criticism over the failing of the government to deliver the hospital within the expected timeframe.

In a statement issued today, BAM said that it had reviewed the contents of Donnelly’s letter to Taoiseach Simon Harris and “rejects in the strongest terms the misleading, ill-informed and incorrect allegations levelled against it”.

The construction company said that the biggest factor in the delay of the project is “client-side design changes”, citing independent assessments and PwC’s 2019 report, as well as the award of €107 million to BAM in May for delay due to client-side design changes.

The company added that although the cost of the hospital has risen to the dramatic figure of €2.2 billion, the amount relating to BAM costs including sums “likely to be awarded through a dispute resolution process”, “will be slightly above half of the overall capital spend on this project.”

The build phase is now more than 93% completed based on the original scope, BAM said, adding that it was currently resourcing the project at approximately 50% above the level that was anticipated at this late stage, hitting back at Donnelly’s letter, in which he says that it is of the view of the board that BAM is under-resourcing the project.

Further, BAM rejected the assertion in the letter to Taoiseach Simon Harris that the 3,000 rooms they had offered as complete were not at the “acceptable standard”, saying: “BAM is fully confident in the quality of the construction work for this world class hospital.

‘The handover of rooms and de-snagging of minor issues is a routine element of the project which has clearly been affected by the level of client-instructed change.

“This is a process, not a one-off event, and rooms are never presented as final until the completed building is handed over to the customer,” it said.