“Strongest terms” are used to refute accusations made against BAM Construction, a construction company, during the building of the National Children’s Hospital, reports RTE.
The company released a statement in response to a letter that Taoiseach Simon Harris and other high-ranking government officials received on Friday, which was viewed by RTÉ News and sent by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, which oversees the hospital project, took the position expressed in the letter by Mr. Donnelly, stating that “BAM’s approach is based on extracting as much money from the Irish taxpayer as possible”.
According to him, this is “partly responsible for the under-resourcing of the project and the ongoing delays” in the hospital’s construction, reports RTE.
The new Dublin hospital, which has been under construction since 2017, is now expected to cost more over €2.2 billion.
The company behind the new hospital being built in Dublin, BAM, has referred to the Health Minister’s accusations as “misleading, ill-informed, and incorrect”.
Donnelly’s assertion that BAM is attempting to “extract as much money from the Irish taxpayer as possible” and “is holding the State to ransom” was specifically denied, according to the statement.
The assertions “have absolutely no basis in fact, nor are they helpful to ensuring this complex and vital project is completed at the earliest possible juncture” , BAM stated, reports RTE.
A “highly complex construction dispute on which there is little agreement on the main drivers of delay” has resulted from the hospital’s development, according to the business.
They did, however, note that in May, an impartial arbiter pointed to the extent of NPHDB design modifications as “by far the biggest factor in the increased costs and delays to the project.”
BAM further said that the project’s official completion date has been “extended by 16 months” due to judgements made by independent conciliators, reports RTE.
According to Mr. Donnelly, the NPHDB is contesting the conciliator’s May award to BAM of more than €100 million.
Minister Donnelly stated in his letter that “none were completed to the expected, acceptable standard” out of the 3,000 rooms that BAM had claimed as complete.
According to him, “incomplete fittings and fixtures such as sinks, taps, and showers, incomplete insulation work, grabrails not yet installed, and incomplete vinyl flooring” are among the problems with the rooms.
“No one would accept these standards in their homes and the NPHDB certainly cannot, and will not, accept inferior standard of completion on the largest health investment in the history of the State,” Mr Donnelly said, reports RTE.
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