Almost 1,000 claims have been lodged by BAM over construction of Children's Hospital

The National Children's Hospital is not expected to be ready for use by the public before 2025.

Just under 1,000 claims have now been taken by the main contractor constructing the new National Children’s Hospital, at a value of €542m.

Despite a moratorium being in place on new claims since last May, new figures show that an additional 78 actions have been lodged by the contractor BAM since July, at a value of €96m, including 33 claims in December alone bringing the total to date to 984.

The claims are lodged in spite of the moratorium. The project is not expected to be ready for use by the public before 2025.

That moratorium was put in place with a view to both the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) — which bears responsibility for delivering the €1.7bn hospital — and BAM focusing all efforts towards completing the build in the shortest timeframe possible.

Under the contract between BAM and the NPHDB, the contractor is entitled to raise claims and adjustments seeking compensation for perceived aberrations in the project.

The number of claims lodged to date since the build began in 2018 however was not expected, with David Gunning, the NPHDB’s chief officer, previously describing the level of actions as “inordinately” high.

While BAM values the claims at €542m, some 818 of them which have been adjudicated upon by the NPHDB’s representative for disputes under the contract is just €17.2m.

In November 2020, Mr Gunning said that an additional €15m would be required in order to satisfy the claims situation up until mid-2022.

Separately, the NPHDB has defended its retention of legal firm McCann Fitzgerald as both drafter of the hospital contract and also key adviser regarding the 984 disputes with BAM.

McCann Fitzgerald, one of the preeminent legal firms in the country, successfully tendered for and was paid €45,000 in 2017 to prepare the construction contract for the hospital, the NPHDB said.

Construction of the National Children's Hospital in Dublin.

The firm is also the principal legal adviser to the NPHDB on the project.

Social Democrats TD and vice chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Catherine Murphy, said that in using McCann Fitzgerald both for the contract and the defence of legal claims, there is a “potential conflict of interest”.

Ms Murphy allowed that it could “make sense for them to advise the board as they would be au fait with the contract”, but countering that she said “the contract signed doesn’t appear to be watertight because how could it be if so many claims are being made”.

Separately, Department of Health secretary-general Robert Watt has said no one party was responsible for the decision to maintain secrecy regarding the hospital’s budget and completion date on reasons of “commercial sensitivity”.

The NPHDB told the PAC in February 2021 that further detail on the budget and timeframes for the project would be made available within a month. 

However, that information was not forthcoming.

“There was not a single decision point … but rather the collective corporate and fiduciary responsibilities of the Department of Health and the NPHDB,” Mr Watt said in correspondence with the committee.

He added those responsibilities “clearly indicated” that sharing that information “would not be in the best interests of the project or the State”.