BAM's claims on National Children's Hospital 'not credible', says minister

The under-construction National Children’s Hospital in Dublin Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

The Health Minister has described claims by BAM that large sections of the new National Children’s Hospital are complete as “not credible”, as doubts remain over when the facility will open.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has strongly criticised the developer, saying that only around 800 rooms within the hospital are completed to standard.

In a statement on Wednesday evening, Ms Carroll MacNeill said many rooms offered up by BAM have “open snags” and are “chequerboarded throughout the hospital”.

Ms Carroll MacNeill said this means they have not been offered up in large sections, but rather on a room-by-room basis in different parts of the hospital.

“What is needed is whole zones or blocks of rooms, from the ground floor up to the sixth floor in order to gain and benefit from meaningful additional early access for Children’s Health Ireland.

“BAM’s suggestion that ongoing design changes are impacting the completion of the hospital is not credible, especially given the fact that BAM is claiming that the project is 99% complete. It is BAM’s responsibility to get its final 1% done.” Ms Carroll MacNeill called for the developer to provide “the resources necessary” to complete the project” and ensure it is handed over in a timely manner.

The row began early on Wednesday, after the Minister cast doubt on the completion timeline of the hospital, laying the blame on BAM.

She highlighted the number of contractors on site had fallen by half compared to late 2024.

“It was 800 to 900 contractors routinely on site every week at the end of 2024; there’s now 400 to 500,” Ms Carroll MacNeill said.

Ms Carroll MacNeill also alleged the developer was not using its entire provisioned budget, saying between €2.8m and €3m was being drawn down each month, of an allocated €10m.

However, BAM rejected Ms Carroll MacNeill’s assertions, saying they were “disappointed” by comments.

“Her remarks indicate she has only received partial information in relation to the current status of the National Children’s Hospital Ireland project,” BAM said.

“The project is more than 99% complete. Due to the specialist nature of the commissioning work currently underway at this late stage, it is entirely normal that there are fewer personnel on site compared to this time last year.” 

On the drawdown of funds, the contractor referred to a previous meeting with then-minister Stephen Donnelly, where a commitment was made that there would be no further design changes.

However, BAM says there have since been 84 new and revised design changes.

“The majority of the remaining work on the project relates to these changes, for which BAM has not received payment,” the spokesperson said.

“As a result, BAM has been obliged to initiate the contract’s dispute resolution mechanism to secure appropriate compensation.” Both Ms Carroll MacNeill and the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board have rejected BAM’s assertions that design changes are responsible for delays.

“This [design change requests] equates to less than 4% of the 5,762 rooms within the hospital. It is not credible to state that this is the reason for BAM’s lack of progress,” the NPHDB said.

The spokesperson said BAM remain behind on all key performance indicators tracked by the NPHDB.