Cost of National Children's Hospital expected to soar

Bam said they are "fully committed" to delivering the vital piece of national infrastructure "as quickly and efficiently as possible". File picture: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

Hundreds of extra claims amounting to over €200m have been submitted by the main contractor of the National Children's Hospital.

The cost of the hospital, which has been dogged by delays and overruns, is now expected to spiral further and is running significantly behind schedule, the board of hospital have said.

Social Democrat co-leader Róisín Shortall accused the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) of being "delusional" after its chief officer David Gunning said they are still working to the original €1.433bn budget despite receiving over 600 claims for extra costs from the contractors.

The Oireachtas Health Committee was told that difficulties with the contractor, Bam, reached a stage where the board had considered the option of terminating the building contract earlier this year.

Mr Gunning told the Committee that he could not provide a completion date for the project, but payments to the contractor were 43% below what had been projected in October which "gives an indication in financial terms" of how far behind the project is.

When further pressed on the expected completion date, Mr Gunning said: “I anticipate we will be working with the contractor and providing updated guidance to stakeholders on the schedule early next year. That is the position."

He went on to confirm that the August 2022 deadline will not be met.

Bam said they are "fully committed" to delivering the vital piece of national infrastructure "as quickly and efficiently as possible".

"We are availing of derogations for extended working hours wherever possible," the company said in a statement issued last night. 

Ms Shortall described the situation as "deeply unsatisfactory" and said serious questions remain about escalating costs and delays to the project.

"It is not credible for the board to talk about working towards the original completion date. More than nine months of progress has been lost this year alone and who knows what else is going to hold this project up," she said.

Questioned by Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinan on whether the board considered "pulling the plug" on the contract with Bam, Mr Gunning said the board had considered "all the options open to us" including conciliation.

He said the board sought legal advice on terminating the building contract this year, stating "it was considered but was not triggered".

The Committee was told that an extra €15m will be needed to cover legal costs associated with fighting claims made by the contractor on the National Children's Hospital from the start of 2020 to the middle of 2022.

However, Mr Gunning could not say how much had originally been budgeted for legal fees.

When questioned by Fine Gael's Colm Burke on the number of claims that have been settled between the contractor and the board Mr Gunning said only "a handful... not many" had been dealt with to date.

Mr Gunning said Bam has been "underperforming as regards project execution and has been extremely assertive as regards claims".

He was later pressed for final costs and completion dates but told Senator Martin Conway that "in the absence of a compliant programme from the contractor, it's extremely difficult for us to provide you with this level of detail that you require".

He said the project had been behind by four months in November of last year, but this had increased to six months by the time the site was closed in March as a result of Covid-19.

The board are now withholding 15% of monies invoiced every month as they claim that "despite ongoing engagement with the main contractor, we are still without a valid works programme that is in line with its contractual obligations and we are addressing these issues via the mechanisms allowed to us within the contract."

However, Bam strongly refuted this and said they have still not received a fully complete, co-ordinated design for the project.

"The impression was given that Bam had no work programme. Bam has submitted several programmes and has updated them every month tracking actual versus planned progress. Each programme submitted, including the current one, has a specified predicted end date," a statement from the contractor said.