The Minister for Health has accused the builders of the overdue and over-budget national children’s hospital of making “not credible” claims that large parts of the hospital have been ready since July.
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and construction company BAM had a public exchange of words on Wednesday, with each side criticising the other’s remarks.
Ms Carroll MacNeill had told reporters on Wednesday morning that she had concerns about BAM’s ability to meet its own work programme and claimed
she had evidence that there “haven’t been enough contractors on site” and that BAM was not drawing down the maximum amount of funding available each month to get the hospital ready to be handed over to Children’s Health Ireland at the end of September. The first paediatric patients had been expected to be treated in the hospital by June 2026.
Ms Carroll MacNeill said the State had made €10 million a month available for contractors and subcontractors, but BAM was drawing down only between €2.8 million to €3 million each month.
“This demonstrates that BAM have not put the contractors in to deliver the hospital according to their commitments. They must meet their commitments, this is their timeline,” she said.
In response to those comments, BAM issued a statement which said it was disappointed by the Minister’s remarks.
It said the hospital project was more than 99 per cent complete, and that large areas of the hospital have been finished since early July and offered to the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB).
Ms Carroll MacNeill then issued another statement on Wednesday evening, which again challenged BAM’s account.
“It is not credible for BAM to suggest that ‘large areas of the hospital have been completed since early July and offered to the NPHDB for early access,’” Ms Carroll MacNeill said.
She said the NPHDB had said that many of the rooms offered to it “still have open snags and that in reality only c.800 of these rooms are satisfactory ie less than 15 per cent of the overall number of rooms”.
“Critically, many of those rooms were ‘chequerboarded’ throughout floors and areas of the hospital rather than being offered in a zoned, consistent or logical manner. What is needed is whole zones or blocks of rooms, from the ground floor up to the sixth floor, in order to gain and benefit from meaningful additional early access for Children’s Health Ireland,” she said.
The Minister also said it was “not credible” for BAM to claim that ongoing design changes are impacting the completion of the hospital. “Especially given the fact that BAM is claiming that the project is 99 per cent complete. It is BAM’s responsibility to get its final 1 per cent done,” she said.