The national children’s hospital “fiasco” is rooted in Government incompetence, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald claimed in the Dáil.
She said the Taoiseach Simon Harris, “gave the go ahead for the contract with BAM in 2017; then in 2019, despite the big concerns and problems that had already emerged, he again gave the developer his seal of approval by signing the contract for phase two of construction. This is the source of all of the problems that have beset the building of the hospital.”
“Weak contracts that don’t protect the public purse, don’t hold the developer to delivery dates and don’t allow for effective oversight of the project,” she said.
Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe, answering Leaders’ Questions for the Taoiseach, said the hospital board is acting on the Government’s behalf to “take the steps that are needed, to see it opens”. But he rounded on the Sinn Féin leader and said “on the one hand, you say you want us to better meet the healthcare needs of the young. On the other hand, you’re always against anything in relation to this hospital.”
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Labour leader Ivana Bacik said “what’s frustrating people is the lack of outcome, the lack of accountability, and the constant impression of passing the buck, of blaming others for cost overruns and delays”.
Mr Donohoe said the delays and costs were unacceptable and the hospital board as a “representative of the State” is “taking action on behalf of the Government”, continually and successfully on many occasions challenging claims made by the contractor.
Meanwhile, politicians are due to be told on Wednesday that not a single room in the new national children’s hospital has been fully completed in line with required standards.
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), the body overseeing the project, said contractor BAM is “currently abdicating its contractual responsibilities” in terms of quality, fit out and final inspections.
David Gunning, chief officer of the NPHDB, is due to provide an update on construction to the Oireachtas Health Committee on Wednesday.
In his opening statement, he will confirm BAM has informed the board that the substantial completion date for the €2.2 billion project is now June 2025.
This is 31 months behind the current contractual completion date of November 2022 and four months later than a date provided to the Public Accounts Committee (Pac) last May.
According to Mr Gunning, the completion date has been shifted by BAM 14 times in the last four years, and four times over the past year.
Mr Gunning will also highlight issues with the standard of rooms that BAM have claimed were completed.
“There are 5,678 clinical spaces in the new hospital, and whilst, to date, BAM has offered 3,128 as complete, none were completed to the required standard,” he will say in his opening statement.
“All rooms offered by BAM require additional work prior to our team being in a position to sign them off as complete. BAM persists in offering sections of the hospital for review and sign off when they are very obviously incomplete.”
As of the end of August, the total amount spent on the project by the NPHDB is €1,478,606,163 including VAT.
The board previously withheld 15 per cent of monies owed to the developer between May 2020 and February 2021. It also threatened to repeat this behaviour in 2023, but it was not actioned as a programme was instead put in place by the contractor.
Last week, it emerged the NPHDB is to seek damages from BAM with a claim which could run to more than €20 million.
In a statement, BAM said it is “fully confident in the quality of the construction work for this world class hospital”.
“The handover of rooms and de-snagging of minor issues is a routine element of the project which has clearly been affected by the level of client-instructed change. This is a process, not a one-off event, and rooms are never presented as final until the completed building is handed over to the customer,” it said.
The contractor also rejected “in the strongest terms the misleading, ill-informed and incorrect allegations levelled against it” with regard to extracting as much money as possible from the Irish taxpayer.
“These claims have absolutely no basis in fact, nor are they helpful to ensuring this complex and vital project is completed at the earliest possible juncture,” the statement added.
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