The builder for the new national children’s hospital has completed only 60 per cent of the progress it was supposed to have achieved by next month when the healthcare facility was due for substantial completion, politicians will be told on Thursday.
On Saturday, The Irish Times reported the substantial completion of the healthcare facility has been delayed again until at least September, with patients now not expected to be treated at the facility until June 2026 at the earliest.
The delay has been confirmed to members of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC), who will hold a meeting on the progress of the new hospital on Thursday morning.
In his opening statement. David Gunning, chief executive of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), the body overseeing the project, will tell politicians contractor BAM has extended the substantial completion date from June to September 30th.
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“In the past seven months, BAM has achieved approximately 60 per cent of its planned progress set out within its programme,” the statement says.
“The NPHDB holds BAM to account across several programme KPIs [key performance indicators], and all of these are currently behind schedule.”
Following the extension, Mr Gunning said the employer’s representative, an independent party appointed to review claims on behalf of both sides, has “formally requested that BAM submit a detailed programme setting out its actions and reasons for delays”.
“This further delay is a cause of great frustration. We acknowledge that the hospital is progressing, but BAM’s pace is insufficient to meet the 30th June deadline it committed to,” his statement adds.
Mr Gunning will say the contractor “continues to submit a high volume of claims”, but the net increase of these claims to date is about €50.5 million – excluding inflation.
Asked about the delay to completion of the hospital last week, a spokesman for BAM said the project is at “a very advanced stage and is well through the technical commissioning process”.
After substantial completion, the hospital will be handed over to Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), which will run the hospital once opened, for a nine month commissioning period.
Lucy Nugent, chief executive of CHI, who is also due to appear before the PAC, will say commissioning the new hospital is a “complex operation requiring meticulous planning, which is well advanced”.
Ms Nugent will also provide an update on the healthcare group’s financial statements.
CHI returned a deficit of €7.8 million for 2023, she will say, which “reflects the net impact of the incremental cost of provision of services as offset by increased funding received from the HSE by CHI”.
The cumulative deficit at December 21st, 2023 amounted to €18 million, with Ms Nugent saying a “substantial element of the balance relates to legacy deficits incurred prior to the establishment of CHI”.
