The Health Minister has rejected assertions by the primary contractor overseeing the National Children’s Hospital project, describing their claims about its progress as “not credible”, reports Breaking News.
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill stated that only 15 percent of the total 5,000+ rooms have been finished to an acceptable level.
She was addressing a statement released by BAM earlier on Wednesday, in which the company said the hospital project is “more than 99 per cent complete”, reports Breaking News.
After the minister expressed skepticism that construction would be finished by September, BAM responded by saying it was “disappointed” in her remarks.
The contractor also claimed it had received numerous design changes, despite prior Government assurances that there would be no further “substantive changes”, reports Breaking News.
In response, Ms Carroll MacNeill issued a statement confirming she had been kept informed over the summer, with her most recent update coming on Tuesday, regarding progress on the 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, reports Breaking News.
“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, reports Breaking News.
“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,” reports Breaking News.
The long-delayed project in Dublin had originally been scheduled for completion in August 2022, but its cost has surged from the initial estimate of €650 million to a projected €2.2 billion.
Once BAM finishes construction, the hospital will still require a commissioning phase lasting between six to nine months before becoming operational.
When asked about current progress on Wednesday, Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill pointed out that BAM was drawing down less than one-third of its available funding, and that the number of workers on-site had dropped to nearly half of what it was at the end of 2024, reports Breaking News.
BAM, however, responded that the project is now in a specialist phase, and that it is “entirely normal” for there to be fewer workers during this stage.
It also noted that most of the remaining work stems from design revisions received after Health Minister Stephen Donnelly had promised no additional alterations would be made, reports Breaking News.
Speaking to journalists 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 explained that at the end of 2024, there were around 800 to 900 workers on site each week, compared to approximately 400 to 500 now, reports Breaking News.
She further added that, according to her latest briefing, BAM wasn’t utilizing the full amount of funds available to them to conduct work and hire subcontractors.
“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 said that, based on the level of work required to finish the project, BAM should be drawing closer to the full €10 million, reports Breaking News.
“I’d rather be paying the €10 million, because then that would be the appropriate number of contractors on site,” reports Breaking News.
Ms Carroll MacNeill also expressed worry that the construction is not being completed “in a logical and sequential way”.
She 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.”
The minister said she would closely monitor developments in the coming weeks and continued: “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, reports Breaking News.
“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,” reports Breaking News.
She warned that any further setbacks in construction, which could delay the commissioning phase, would be “unacceptable”.
A spokesperson for BAM said the minister’s comments suggested she had received “only partial information” about the current status of the project.
“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,” reports Breaking News.
“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,” reports Breaking News.
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,” reports Breaking News.
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