Construction firm BAM will need ‘significant improvement’ to meet October 2024 completion date, while final bill could exceed €2bn
The Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee has heard suggestions that the long-delayed National Children’s Hospital may not receive patients until early 2026.
The committee heard that on average, BAM was hitting 65-66 per cent of its monthly performance targets, and that a “significant improvement” would be needed from the Dutch-headquartered construction giant in order to hit the October 2024 deadline.‘The doctor sewed me back up in Ireland, but Sweden put me back together’Mr Stanley asked, based on performance to date, whether a more realistic timeline for opening the hospital based on performance to date would be early 2026.
He told the Sinn Féin TD for Louth Imelda Munster: “I think the optimism has been beaten out of all of us in relation to this project.” “Originally it was 2016 and let’s not forget the original plan to build this was refused planning permission. So this is going on a very long time. But I think we’re finally getting to the point where this is going to be for real. You know, perhaps in 18 months time, Irish children will be in a state of the art hospital, one the best paediatric hospitals in the world, and it’s going to transform things.
The new programme is now being assessed to see if it is compliant with the contract, Mr Gunning said, but he told Fine Gael’s Alan Dillon that following an “enormous amount of interaction” with BAM there had been an increase in resources at the project and “we are seeing behaviours on site that we welcome and give us some confidence ... things have improved”.
The committee heard that the approved budget that has been sanctioned would be reached by the end of the year, with only €71 million left from the initial capital allocation of €1.433 billion. PAC also heard that the €300 million commissioning budget had also been raised, but CHI chief executive Eilis Hardiman said she could not indicate by how much until a new figure had been given to the Government.
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