Renewed calls have been made for legal action to be taken over the continued delays to the completion of the National Children’s Hospital, as frustration mounts over what has now become a prolonged cycle of missed deadlines and uncertainty around when the project will finally be delivered.
Social Democrats TD Pádraig Rice has again called on the Minister for Health to consider taking legal action against BAM, the company building the hospital, in a bid to push the troubled project over the line.
His intervention comes after the latest update to the Oireachtas health committee confirmed that yet another completion target will not be met.
The committee heard last Wednesday (25th) that the hospital will not be substantially completed by the end of April, marking the 18th missed deadline on the project.
A new date is now expected, but not for another 15 days, further compounding concerns about the lack of clarity and control surrounding the build.
Deputy Rice (pictured above), who is the Social Democrats’ health spokesperson, said the situation has reached a critical point and warned that continued inaction risks prolonging delays indefinitely.
“At today’s Health Committee, it was confirmed that the 18th substantial completion deadline for the National Children’s Hospital will be missed,” he said.
“There is now a 19th deadline on the horizon, but we still have no idea what the new date is. We’ve only been told it will be another 15 days before we know, which is simply not good enough.
“The Minister for Health needs to finally get a handle on this mess and end this relentless cycle of missed deadlines.”
The latest setback follows a meeting between senior representatives of BAM and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board earlier in the week, at which the contractor confirmed it would not meet the April 30 completion date.
While some areas of the hospital are expected to be ready by then, full substantial completion has again been pushed back.
According to the board’s chief officer, David Gunning (pictured above), a revised programme is now being prepared and will be assessed over the coming weeks before a new target date is confirmed.
However, the continued absence of a clear timeline has deepened concern among policymakers and healthcare leaders.
Deputy Rice said successive ministers have struggled to hold the contractor to account, and criticised what he described as ineffective engagement with the company.
“Successive Ministers for Health have been repeatedly given the runaround by BAM – and this minister is no different. The latest half-hearted intervention was another meeting with Royal BAM, which amounted to nothing more than further delays,” he said.
Central to the ongoing delays, according to both political and project leadership, is the level of resourcing on site.
The committee was told that the average number of workers remains at around 560, a figure that has not increased despite repeated commitments.
Deputy Rice said this falls far short of what is required to complete a project of this scale within any reasonable timeframe.
“Worryingly, the average number of workers on site has remained static at around 560. This is nowhere near the number of workers required to push this crucial project over the line anytime soon,” he said.
He also pointed to deeper structural issues in the contract governing the project, arguing that it has left the State without the necessary leverage to enforce delivery.
“BAM must step up to the plate and take responsibility for its litany of failures.
“But ultimately, the flawed contract signed by Simon Harris when he was Health Minister is at the root of the problem with this botched project,” he said.
“The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board said today that the contract contains no levers for them to demand an increase of workers on sites.
“That is outrageous.”
Against that backdrop, Deputy Rice renewed his call for legal proceedings to be considered, arguing that stronger action is now required to ensure progress.
“I am once again calling on the minister to consider issuing proceedings against BAM for repeatedly failing to fulfil its contractual obligations, and to get a commitment of a minimum number of workers on site needed to deliver this project for the country’s sickest children,” he said.
The Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, is understood to be seeking further clarification from BAM regarding its resourcing commitments.
A spokesperson said she will write to the company again to establish whether those commitments have been met and, if not, when they will be fulfilled.
Meanwhile, frustration is also evident at project level.
Mr Gunning told the committee that delays are largely attributable to insufficient staffing on site, and expressed strong dissatisfaction with the contractor’s performance.
“We are beyond frustration with where things are at,” he said.
“It’s completely unacceptable for a tier 1 contractor to offer commitments and to simply dismiss them 18 times. But that’s what we’re dealing with.”
Despite the repeated setbacks, some progress has been made in certain areas of the hospital.
BAM has provided partial early access to specific sections of the building, with works completed on the lower ground level, level 0 and level 6.
These areas have already undergone clinical cleaning, and the delivery, installation and commissioning of more than 5,500 pieces of medical, non-medical and ICT equipment has been completed, indicating that elements of the facility are approaching operational readiness.
However, the broader picture remains uncertain, particularly in relation to the timeline for opening the hospital to patients.
Children’s Health Ireland chief executive Lucy Nugent told the committee that contingency planning is ongoing, especially in light of the risk that the opening could fall into the winter period, when healthcare systems typically face increased pressure.
“As the prolongation of the substantial complete date and then the opening date pushes into, potentially, into a winter period, so we are looking at all options for opening this hospital as soon as possible,” she said.
“So for example, we will be looking at how the flu season in the southern hemisphere is, how it would potentially play out for us in the winter, we’re looking at vaccination rates.”
She added that international experience is also being examined to inform planning, including engagement with hospitals that have undertaken similar moves.
“We have also partnered with a lot of other hospitals around the world who have moved. So far, we have had engaged one hospital in Norway who actually moved in the winter of November last year,” she said.
“However, they weren’t moving on the scale and size that we were, it was a small unit.”
Ms Nugent stressed that patient safety will be the overriding consideration when determining the opening date, with a full risk assessment to be carried out before any final decision is made.
“We continue to evaluate the situation, and when it comes to the actual day-one opening date, we will risk assess is it safe to do so,” she said.
For now, however, the focus remains on achieving substantial completion, a milestone that has now been repeatedly deferred. With no confirmed new date and growing political pressure, the question of whether legal action will be pursued is likely to intensify in the coming weeks.
The ongoing delays have not only raised concerns about cost and delivery, but also about accountability, governance and the State’s ability to manage major infrastructure projects.
As calls for stronger intervention grow louder, the next steps taken by Government may prove decisive in determining how and when the National Children’s Hospital is finally brought to completion.