Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said she is unable at present to provide a firm completion date for the long-delayed National Children’s Hospital Ireland (NCHI), pointing to repeated delays by the primary contractor and continued uncertainty around delivery timelines.
During a site visit with Prime Time, the minister was questioned about potential completion targets and stated that although a schedule exists, the contractor has already failed to meet 19 previous substantial completion deadlines, reports RTE.
“We do have a timeline,” Minister Carroll MacNeill said. “But is it going to be met? If you’ve experienced something 19 times, do you expect it to be different on the 20th?”
In February of last year, the minister had indicated she expected the hospital would open “in 2026,” reports RTE.
Speaking to Prime Time, Minister Carroll MacNeill explained that the opening ultimately depends on when BAM, the main contractor, hands over the ‘hot block’—which includes critical care beds, operating theatres and essential clinical areas—completed to the required clinical and contractual standards, after which a seven-month commissioning phase will commence.
When asked whether the public should realistically expect completion around this time next year, the minister responded that she was unwilling to commit to a date, reports RTE.
“I don’t want to say, because I want the hot block tomorrow.”
“We’ll open it when it’s safe, when it’s right,” she said, adding “I’m not going to open it at a standard that isn’t clinically appropriate, and I’m not going to open it if it’s not safe for the children to move, and I think they’re pretty reasonable parameters, reports RTE.
Since 2019, disputes have persisted between BAM and the State regarding contractual matters, timelines, and the quality of finishes within hospital rooms, though BAM contests claims that it has consistently missed deadlines.
In a statement, the contractor said: “It is not accurate or constructive to state that BAM has continuously missed completion dates, reports RTE.
It added that schedule updates reflected “instructed design changes and additional scope — not a failure of delivery”, highlighting “25,000 design revisions, with new drawings still being issued in 2026.”
That interpretation of design changes is strongly challenged by State bodies involved in the project, reports RTE.
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board stated that “any statement that there have been 20,000-plus ‘design changes’ is incorrect.”
“On every construction project, it is normal for drawings to be revised to incorporate the Contractor’s design, systems, and products. This is because EU procurement rules prohibit fully specifying systems and product names at the tender stage,” it said, reports RTE.
“These revised drawings are not ‘design changes’ because the intent and required functionality have not changed.”
The minister further explained to Prime Time that once BAM achieves final completion, a critical seven-month commissioning period will be overseen by the hospital board and officials before the hospital can open, reports RTE.
“The earliest we can do it is seven months after we get the hot block,” she said.
“CHI (Children’s Health Ireland) has worked hard to shorten that timeline as much as possible, but that seven months is essential for doing things like testing laboratory equipment in situ. The calibrations are extremely fine and that really is the time it takes, reports RTE.
In recent months, BAM has granted CHI access to parts of the hospital, including the lower ground floor, ground floor, and sixth floor.
Minister Carroll MacNeill said meaningful progress has been achieved in those sections, reports RTE.
“We have fitted out 10,000 pieces of both medical and nonmedical equipment into this hospital since last December,” she said.
“The sixth floor is finished. We have the ground floor where the emergency department is — that will be finished next week. Any place that we have gotten access to the hospital, we have shown that we are delivering and ready to take over, reports RTE.
However, she stressed that the State cannot accept sections of the hospital that fall short of required standards.
“We can’t take rooms with doors that don’t close properly. We can’t take rooms with ventilation systems that aren’t at a clinical standard,” she said, reports RTE.
“We will take this hospital at the standard that we paid for, which is the appropriate clinical and contractual standard.”
“Of the 22 surgical theatres, in seven of the theatres the floors have had to be redone,” she said, reports RTE.
Responding to these concerns, BAM said such issues are part of the “the normal snagging and commissioning phase” typical of projects of this size and complexity.
The contractor added that more than 4,000 of the hospital’s 5,728 rooms are now complete, with work advancing at approximately 180 rooms per week—something it described as “well above international benchmarks for major hospital projects”, reports RTE.
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, however, said that while 4,000 rooms have been presented for inspection by BAM, they have not all been confirmed as meeting contractual standards, noting that closer to 110 rooms per week have been submitted recently.
BAM was awarded the contract in 2016, with substantial completion initially targeted for late 2022, and the agreement was signed by current Minister for Finance and Tánaiste Simon Harris, who was serving as Minister for Health at the time, reports RTE.
When asked by presenter Sarah McInerney whether there had been a lack of political accountability around the original contract, Minister Carroll MacNeill said lessons have been learned but her priority remains delivery.
“My concentration is not looking at the past,” she said. “All of my energy is going into the day that I can get access to the hot block at the appropriate standards, so that we can fit it out and deliver it in the way that the children of the future need,” reports RTE.
She acknowledged the frustration felt by families who have been waiting years for the hospital’s opening.
“I am one of those parents. I have slept in Temple Street, I have slept in Crumlin. I totally understand that,” reports RTE.
Plans for a new National Children’s Hospital date back to 1993, and following earlier site difficulties, the contract with BAM was agreed in 2017 with an initial construction budget of €983 million, excluding fit-out costs.
The projected total cost has since risen to more than €2.24 billion, including fit-out, reports RTE.
The minister said this final figure represents “a once-off cost” equivalent to less than one-tenth of the annual health budget.
She added that the hospital will significantly improve paediatric care and help attract international clinical expertise, reports RTE.
“This is what children need and deserve,” she said. “I just want to get it open,” reports RTE.
BAM said it continues to collaborate closely with the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board and Children’s Health Ireland to deliver the project “as quickly and safely as possible for the children of Ireland, reports RTE.
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