Watch:  Further delays may mean the National Children's Hospital will not open until 2026

Builder BAM has strongly rejected assertions that it is “holding the State to ransom” over the new National Children’s Hospital, stating the claim by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly as having “no basis in fact”.

Mr Donnelly wrote to coalition leaders on Friday to outline the further delays to the National Children’s Hospital, with an expectation now that it will not be completed until the middle of next year.