National Maternity Hospital on same trajectory as New Children’s Hospital says Soc Dems

News that the new National Maternity Hospital could end up way more than its original price tag has sent alarm bells ringing among the opposition.

The initial bill for the hospital was set between €500 million and €1 billion by the Department of Public Expenditure; new figures by the Department now place it closer to €2 billion.

When the hospital was first floated in 2013, the cost was around €150 million.

Social Democrats TD and health spokesperson Padraig Rice said “The National Maternity Hospital cannot become another runaway train – its development has been mishandled by successive health ministers, including Tánaiste Simon Harris, and continues to spiral out of control.”

“The hospital has been mired in controversy since the beginning – all these years later, we still don’t know why the State is building a valuable public hospital just to hand it over to a private entity,” the Cork TD said.

“Now we learn that a project that was estimated to cost between €500 million and €1 billion by the Department of Public Expenditure could cost €2 billion – an astronomical sum for a facility that the state won’t even own the land that it’s built on.”

“Even based on DPER’s initial estimate, the cost per square metre was found to be double that of other maternity hospitals in the UK and Canada – now, that figure has doubled again.”

Rice said “had it been delivered on time, and in a more suitable location, costs would never have gotten so out of control.”

“There are major deficiencies in planning and project management in the HSE and Department of Health which must be ironed out – we cannot continue to watch every development they oversee collapse in terms of value and efficiency.

“The Minister for Health needs to get a handle on this project now – we cannot have a repeat of the New Children’s Hospital.”