Varadkar staunchly defends children’s hospital timeline amid reports of setbacks

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has doubled down in defending the cost and timeline relating to the National Children’s Hospital amid reports that it has been hit with further setbacks.

Sinn Fein TD David Cullinane said information he has been given indicates there are “major generic faults” with half of the multimillion hospital’s 22 operating theatres, which could cost tens of thousands of euro to fix and delay the project by 12 months.

He has said this information has been given to him via a source “at the heart” of the hospital project.

The hospital – which when completed could be the most expensive hospital in the world – had been due to be completed in March 2024, with plans for it to open in the second half of next year.

Raising the issue in Leaders’ Questions on Tuesday, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said that the hospital project had been “mismanaged from the start”.

She told the Dail that the report of an independent expert, appointed by Children’s Health Ireland, had said the recent issues were “not a snagging list, but rather indicative of major generic faults and non-compliances. The longer that these issues take to get resolved, the more expensive and time-consuming it will become”.

She continued to quote from the report: “If the present approach is not corrected, the systems will fail the final validation and it will not be fit to be taken into use.”

She added: “Indeed, these independent experts express huge disappointment that no action had been taken since the major generic faults had been brought to the attention of the board months and months earlier.”

Mr Varadkar responded by pushing the Sinn Fein leader to reveal the source of the information, and questioned the motivations of those raising the issue.

“The government believes this is an unhelpful distraction aimed at shifting the focus from the contractor and its responsibilities to others,” he told the Dail.

He said that the government still expected work to be completed and handed over next year and will be commissioned in the months after that, and insisted that work on the children’s hospital “has not stopped or paused”.

“There can be no suggestion that any additional work on these 11 theatres, should it even be needed, could have any effect on the completion or opening of the hospital. Any works, if needed, can be done in parallel.

“The board informs me that the review is not indicative of any wider design issues.”

He said that the government became aware of the issue on Tuesday, but questioned “if what you’re informing me of is even accurate”.

Ms McDonald responded by asking for a “more fulsome and a less ridiculous, frankly, answer” to her question of whether the rooms had failed a validation test carried out in March.

“I don’t know if a validation exercise was carried out in March or not. But I do know that snagging and checking is par for the course in any construction project,” he said.

Mr Cullinane could be heard saying “this will come back to haunt you”, as the Dail debate moved on.

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) said in a statement that it had been aware of a potential issue since May 2022, which it said is being addressed “in a timely and appropriate manner”.

“There has been no material change to the design on the new children’s hospital. The potential works in the 11 operating theatres are minor works – they are not on the critical path,” the statement said.

“The change, if instructed to (contractor) BAM, will involve the movement of four ceiling grilles in each of the 11 theatres. This will not cost ‘tens of millions of euro’, as is being claimed, and is not expected to have an impact on the completion date of the hospital.”

The NPHDB said that the critical issue of concern is that BAM had not yet provided a programme of works due in February 2023 on the final 20% of the hospital that remains to be completed, and that 2,122 claims had been submitted by BAM on the project as of May 2023.

BAM said in a statement that its “sole focus is on delivering the children’s hospital”.

“Work is progressing well and is now over 80% complete. We are continuing to prepare the programme update as required under the contract based on the scope as currently known.

“We are working closely with our client’s design team to support development of the revised scope of work for the operating theatres. BAM has not engaged with any third parties on any of these matters.”

The plan to build a “state-of-the-art” paediatric hospital has been mired in controversy over recent years over where it would be built, how much it will cost and the repeated delays to when it will be in operation.

The cost of building the hospital has risen from hundreds of millions of euros 10 years ago to 1.4 billion euros approved by the government in 2018.

The government has admitted that the final costs will be above this figure, and has cited outstanding claims from the developers of the hospital as a reason why it has not divulged the latest estimated costs.