Children’s hospital costs hike ‘of significant concern’

Senior health officials will today tell TDs of concern about excessive costs involved in the construction of the national children’s hospital and how this “will undoubtedly impact on other priority health investments”.

It has also emerged the head of the Department of Public Expenditure has doubled down on a rejection to appear before the Oireachtas health committee and will not allow officials attend there either.

The developments come amid growing questions about the €1.7bn bill to build the national children’s hospital.

HSE deputy director general Dean Sullivan, who also sits on a steering group for the new hospital, will tell the health committee today that the outcome of phase B of the build is a “cost which is considerably in excess of that envisaged following the initial tender process”.

Mr Sullivan will tell TDs: “As has been noted already, this escalation in costs is of significant concern and will undoubtedly impact on other priority health investments.”

An independent review of the project will begin this week, TDs will be told. To be completed in March, it will help identify any “weaknesses” in the proposed project.

Nonetheless, Mr Sullivan will add: “There is no doubt that there is an urgent need for a new children’s hospital to care for sick children, and their families, in Ireland.”

At the same meeting, Department of Health assistant secretary general Colm Desmond will reiterate that to complete the project, an extra €450m will be needed between 2019 and 2022. This includes an extra €100m this year.

The €450m extra will be made up of €320m in exchequer funding and €130m in philanthropy funding.

This is a very significant and disturbing escalation cost. On balance, the Government decided to proceed with the project in the face of these higher costs because of the importance of the project for children’s healthcare,” Mr Desmond will tell TDs and senators.

He will reiterate that, of the €100m extra this year, €50m must come from other departments in savings. This issue has already caused concern at Cabinet discussions.

“There is no doubt that the additional costs associated with the project are of great concern and we must have assurance that phase B of the construction project will be delivered within budget and timescale,” he will add.

Meanwhile, the heath committee’s efforts to get Department of Public Expenditure secretary general Robert Watt to appear and answer questions about the hospital cost have been rejected a second time.

Mr Watt wrote back to the committee on Monday night, reiterating that he was not the appropriate department head to appear on the issue.

In his second rejection letter, he added: “It would be impractical for officials of this Department to also attend meetings of each of the 14 sectoral committees”