Health minister says claims by children’s hospital contractor ‘not credible’

By Cillian Sherlock, PA

The Health Minister has said claims by the lead contractor of the National Children’s Hospital on the project’s progress are “not credible”.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said that just 15 per cent of the overall number of more than 5,000 rooms have been completed to a satisfactory standard.

The minister was responding to a statement by BAM earlier on Wednesday after it said the project is “more than 99 per cent complete”.

After Ms Carroll MacNeill cast doubt over whether construction at the new hospital will be completed by September, BAM said it was “disappointed” at her comments.

It then said it had been issued with scores of design alterations despite a commitment from Government that there would be no further “substantive changes”.

Responding, Ms Carroll McNeill said in a statement that she was updated over the summer, and most recently on Tuesday, about progress on the national children’s hospital.

“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’,” she said.

“The NPHDB has stated that many of these offered rooms still have open snags and that in reality only circa 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.

“BAM’s suggestion that ongoing design changes are impacting the completion of the hospital is not credible, 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.

“What is needed now is for BAM to provide the resources necessary to complete the over 5,800 rooms in this building to the standard set out in the contract and to hand them over to the NPHDB in a logical, methodical and timely manner, first facilitating additional early access as it committed to, and then the timely substantial completion of the entire building.”

The serially delayed project in Dublin had an original completion date of August 2022, while costs have ballooned from a planned €650 million to an expected €2.2 billion.

After the completion of construction by main contractor BAM, the hospital will also require a commission period of between six and nine months before it is ready for use.

Asked about progress at the site on Wednesday, Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said BAM was only drawing down less than a third of the funding that was available to it and the level of contractors on site was almost half that of activity seen at the end of 2024.

However, the contractor said it was in a specialist stage of the project and it was “entirely normal” for fewer personnel to be on site.

It added that the majority of ongoing work relates to design changes that were issued to it after a commitment that no further alterations would be sought was made by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Ms Carroll MacNeill said: “The single biggest concern I have at the moment is with BAM, is with the fact that there are half the number of contractors on site than there had been at the end of last year.”

She said there were previously 800 to 900 on site every week at the end of 2024 compared with around 400 to 500 now.

The minister added that, based on the most recent information she had, BAM was not drawing down the full amount available to it to carry out work and bring in sub-contractors.

“We have provisioned to pay BAM €10 million a month, from which they’ve been drawing down – by most recent information about – €2.8 to €3 million.”

The minister explained that based on the activity necessary to complete the hospital, BAM would be drawing down closer to the full €10 million amount.

“I’d rather be paying the €10 million, because then that would be the appropriate number of contractors on site.”

Ms Carroll MacNeill said she was also concerned that the work is not being done “in a logical and sequential way”.

The minister added: “BAM have clear contractual commitments to this State – the State will enforce those contractual commitments and we will not be held by anybody, most especially BAM the contractor, that has been and continues to be paid for delivering a hospital on time.”

Ms Carroll MacNeill said she would be looking at progress made over the coming weeks and added: “Obviously, I expect BAM to have the maximum number of contractors there to deliver the hospital as they have committed to, and that is a question for BAM.

“And I would suggest that it’s a matter for their local and global reputation, that they honour their contractual commitment to the Irish State, and that there’s evidence of them doing so, because at the moment I don’t have that evidence.”

She said any further delay on construction, which would impact the start date for commissioning, would be “unacceptable”.

A spokesman for BAM said the minister’s remarks indicate she has “only received partial information” in relation to the current status of the development.

“The project is more than 99 per cent complete. Due to the specialist nature of the commissioning work currently under way at this late stage, it is entirely normal that there are fewer personnel on site compared to this time last year.

“In relation to the drawdown value, since meeting with the then minister Stephen Donnelly in October last year – when a commitment was made that no further design changes would occur – there have been 84 new and revised design changes.

“The majority of the remaining work on the project relates to these changes, for which BAM has not received payment. As a result, BAM has been obliged to initiate the contract’s dispute resolution mechanism to secure appropriate compensation.”

The contractor added: “Large areas of the hospital have been completed since early July and offered to the NPHDB (National Paediatric Hospital Development Board) for early access.

“We would be delighted to welcome Minister Carroll MacNeill to the hospital to see the significant progress first-hand.

“BAM remains committed to delivering this project to the highest standards, while working closely with all stakeholders to actively manage the challenges involved and achieve the earliest possible opening date for the children of Ireland.”