THE BOARD OVERSEEING the construction of the National Children’s Hospital (NCH) is expected to tell the Oireachtas Health Committee tomorrow that a completion date for the hospital has yet to be confirmed while the developer of the project is “not providing sufficient resources to deliver the hospital”.
The slow progress is underlined by the revelation that just 27 of the planned 3,000 rooms in the hospital have been completed – and even those 27 are beset with snags.
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) will appear before the committee to answer questions from TDs and Senators about the rise in costs and delays to the project.
David Gunning, the chief officer of the NPHDB is expected to tell the committee in his opening statement that BAM, the developer of the project, is “not providing sufficient resources to deliver the hospital”.
He will say that it is “unacceptable” that BAM has not issued a contract compliant programme and has not provided progress reports for March, April, May and June of this year.
“The most recent progress report received from BAM – in April 2023 for works up
to February 2023 – stated the substantial completion date would be May 2024
which is 21 months beyond the original contracted completion date of 4 August 2022 and 18 months beyond the contractual substantial completion date of November 2022,” he will say.
“BAM had previously confirmed in writing that an updated programme would be
submitted by the 7 July 2023, we are still awaiting this programme. While I
understand how frustrating this is for the members, it is very difficult to provide
a firm answer on the completion date in the absence of a compliant contract
programme.”
Gunning will tell the committee that the “lack of resourcing together with poor project execution may lead to further slippage of the substantial completion date if this continues”.
He will say that in the last 12 months, BAM has achieved 67% of its planned output, adding that this fell to 34% at certain times during this period.
“To further illustrate this point, BAM’s monthly billing currently should approximate to €15 million however, in the last number of months, they are below €10 million,” he will say.
He will tell the committee that 2,175 claims have been raised up to the end of June of this year, with the substantiated value as claimed by BAM sitting at €756 million.
Gunning will also point out that based on BAM’s commitments, 3,000 rooms in the NCH should have been completed by now. However, only 27 rooms have been deemed complete.
“Furthermore, upon inspection these 27 rooms presented a large number of snags,” he will say.
Gunning will tell the committee that the biggest driver of additional cost to the project is delay.
“As I have outlined above, the project is beset with delays and unless the behaviour of BAM is to change, we may suffer further delays into the period ahead,” he will say.
“We know from what it has stated that BAM does not want the children and
young people of Ireland to have to wait for the hospital for longer than is
necessary.
“I would urge BAM to consider its behaviour and overall approach to
delivering this project. The kind of behaviour that has been experienced simply can’t continue.”
The matter was raised in the Dáil this afternoon during Leaders’ Questions.
Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty told Taoiseach Leo Varadkar that the representative’s opening statement is “mind-blowing”, claiming that the delayed construction is running “out of control” with no one being held accountable.
“It charts a farcical story of delay, massive cost overrun, a developer allowed to run amok and a government that has no control whatsoever on the construction of what will be one of the most expensive hospitals in the world,” he said.
“At least €2 billion of taxpayers’ money has been invested in this hospital and yet the board, the Government or the developer still cannot tell us when the doors will open and when the children of Ireland will be able to use the hospital. Nor can they tell us what the final bill will be.”
Doherty said the board is writing cheques to BAM while at the same time, expressing anger with BAM over “how the developer is failing to deliver”.
He said the cost of the hospital went from €650 million to €2 billion to become one of the most expensive in the world.
He said there are 100,000 children on waiting lists, and accused Health Minister Stephen Donnelly during Leaders’ Questions of “being asleep at the wheel”.
“When the Taoiseach was Minister for Health this hospital was supposed to have cost us €650 million. It now has a price tag of €2 billion. Costs have more than trebled. We were supposed to have a national children’s hospital years ago,” he said.
“Then it became August 2020, then it’s May 2024 and now the board says we can’t even guarantee that timeframe.
“Once again, the public are looking on and they’re seeing a complete mess and a government that is holding nobody to account in relation to the mismanagement of hundreds of millions of euro in relation to taxpayers’ money.”
Doherty asked Varadkar to clarify to the Dáil when the NCH will open to the public, what the final bill of the hospital will be and whether anyone will be held to account for the cost tripling.
The Taoiseach said the hospital has been delayed and costs rising due a number of factors, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and inflation.
He said the initial cost of the hospital in 2015 was “substantially underestimated”.
However, he took issue with the €2 billion figure as “misleading”, saying that it also applies to two urgent care centres in Blanchardstown and Tallaght which are open and operating, the decommissioning of Crumlin and Temple Street and a failed attempt to build at the site of the Mater Hospital 20 years ago.
“When people use the €2 billion figure, it is used in a misleading way,” Varadkar added.
He said the hospital is 85% complete and the focus of works “continues to be on internal fit-out and commissioning of mechanical and electrical services”.
“Medical equipment is now also being installed. The elevated helipad, which will serve the children’s hospital and St. James’s, is progressing to its final stages of assembly,” he said.
He said the Government expects the hospital to be open to patients towards the end of 2024, or early 2025 at the latest.
“The budget for the hospital is €1.433 billion, of which €1.32 billion has been drawn down to date. That was the budget we agreed in 2018. It is clear, however, that the budget will have to be increased and that €1.433 billion will not be adequate,” he said.
“Infrastructure projects like these are huge, they’re complex and … we see this in projects of this scale internationally,” he said.
“But I want to reassure the House that everything possible is being done to ensure this project is completed as soon as possible.”
Varadkar also said government is “standing up to the contractor” over some claims for additional money, adding “almost all of which we’re fighting on have been ruled in our favour”.
In 2017, the NCH project was forecast to cost €983 million. The following year, Varadkar told the Dáil that it would cost €1.4 billion.
That increased again to €1.73 billion in 2019, while one opposition TD said he believed it was “highly unlikely” that the total cost would be less than €2 billion.
Last year, Project Director of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) Phelim Devine told The Journal that there were “huge pressures on costs and people are aware of it”.
The project had accounted for inflation of around 4% but by that point in 2022 inflation had soared up to 7% as consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in almost 22 years.
Last month, Sinn Féin health spokesperson David Cullinane released a statement in which he said he understood there is a “major fault in 11 of the operating theatres, which has an impact on the air ventilation systems”.
He suggested that the fix could delay the hospital development and cost tens of millions.
However, the NPHDB described the situation as requiring only “minor works” and asserted it would not affect the hospital’s completion date.
With reporting from the Press Association
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