'Like a bad episode of Room to Improve on speed' - Children's Hospital delayed further
Opening date for €2.2 billion facility set to be August 2025, at the earliest
The CEO of the New Children's Hospital has confirmed the completion date for the €2.2 billion project has been delayed further while a senior official at the Department of Health says it will be August of next year, at the earliest, before it opens.
Speaking at a hearing of the Public Accounts Committee, David Gunning, Chief Officer of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board said the hospital will not now be substantially completed by the end of October, as had been hoped.
He told the committee that the latest monthly report from the main contractors BAM indicated the completion date is now the end of February 2025.
Responding to questions from Tipperary TD, Alan Kelly, Mr Gunning said the Board does not have a detailed programme from the contractor as to why there is a delay. "We have a date," he said,
Deputy Kelly said the project has been "a disaster zone for years" and compared he compared to it to being like a "bad episode of Room to Improve on speed"
During this Thursday's hearing, a senior official from the Department of Health said they expect the contractor to substantially complete the children's hospital in February 2025 "or before."
Factoring in the likely time it will take to commission the new hospital, Eamonn Quinn said it would be August, at the earliest, before it is open.
Asked if he believed that date, Mr Quinn said: "We have to, because we have to hold the contractor here to deliver what it's committed to do."