{"id":364603,"date":"2026-03-25T15:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/364603\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T15:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:59:08","slug":"childrens-hospital-deadline-will-be-missed-again-committee-told-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/364603\/","title":{"rendered":"Children\u2019s hospital deadline will be missed again, committee told \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The national children\u2019s hospital<\/a> will not be substantially completed before the end of April, making it the 18th deadline that has not been met, the Oireachtas health committee has heard.<\/p>\n

Representatives of Children\u2019s Health Ireland (CHI)<\/a> and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board<\/a> (NPHDB) yesterday updated TDs and Senators about the \u20ac2.24 billion hospital, which has been beset by cost overruns and delays.<\/p>\n

The hospital was due for substantial completion on April 30th<\/a>, the 18th such date put forward by the contractor.<\/p>\n

However, NPHDB chief officer David Gunning said the board on Tuesday met senior representatives of construction company Bam<\/a>, which confirmed it would \u201cnot deliver on their 30th April substantial completion date\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added that while Bam was not achieving substantial completion by this date, \u201cthey expect to have areas of the hospital completed by the end of April\u201d.<\/p>\n

The employer\u2019s representative (ER), the independent third party responsible for administering the development contract, is in the process of writing to Bam requesting an updated formal programme.<\/p>\n

Gunning said they did not yet have a new substantial completion date, and this should be available in around three working weeks once the new programme has been evaluated.<\/p>\n

Asked if he expected the forthcoming deadline would be met, he said he would be \u201cnaive\u201d to believe it but added \u201cwe are inches away from getting this ball across the line\u201d. <\/p>\n

Gunning has attributed the delays to a lack of resourcing on the site, stating there is around 560 workers there on average.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to see resources absolutely flooding the site. Under the contract we have no lever in relation to resources,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are beyond frustration with where things are at. It\u2019s completely unacceptable for a tier 1 contractor to offer commitments and to simply dismiss them 18 times. But that\u2019s what we\u2019re dealing with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The relationship between the contractor and the board overseeing the project has grown increasingly fractious in recent years as costs increased and deadlines passed. <\/p>\n

In its opening statement to politicians, the NPHDB said it had exercised \u201call rights and remedies\u201d available under the contract to compel Bam to achieve substantial completion by the target date, including withholding 15 per cent of payments due on a number of occasions.<\/p>\n

It also believes it could be entitled to more than \u20ac40.2 million in liquidated damages due to delays to substantial completion.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0John McManus: Glasgow shows what happens if you open a mega hospital before it is readyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

However, Gunning said this figure could increase if the works are delayed further.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the same meeting, Lucy Nugent, chief executive of CHI, said the organisation had reduced its operational commissioning timeline from nine months to seven months in an attempt to open the hospital as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

A number of reports have raised patient safety and clinical concerns about decanting to the new hospital during the winter period, raising questions as to whether it will be the spring of next year before the hospital opens to patients.<\/p>\n

However, Nugent said they are \u201clooking at all options\u201d to allow the hospital to open as quickly as possible. CHI will look at the flu season in the southern hemisphere to estimate the potential impact when it arrives in the State, as well as vaccination rates.<\/p>\n

She added that CHI has also been in discussions with a Norway hospital that last year moved premises during winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to evaluate the situation,\u201d she said. \u201cWe will risk-assess if it\u2019s safe to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Bam said it is \u201cnot accurate or constructive to state that Bam has continuously missed completion dates\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe programme has evolved in response to instructed design changes and additional scope during the project. Each updated completion date reflects these new changes and the resulting need to reprogramme the works, rather than any failure of performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that the contractor continues to \u201cwork closely\u201d with stakeholders to deliver the hospital as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The national children\u2019s hospital will not be substantially completed before the end of April, making it the 18th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[56409,30791,164411,42,29096,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-364603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-bam","tag-children-s-health-ireland-chi","tag-committee-on-health","tag-headlines","tag-national-childrens-hospital","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}