Construction on €1.86bn National Maternity Hospital to begin in January, minister says

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said construction was set to begin in the early part of 2027. Picture: Grainne Ni Aodha/PA Wire

The health minister has said construction of the new €1.86bn National Maternity Hospital will start in January, while plans are being reviewed to manage on-site parking costs for patients.

It was announced this week that the main contract for the hospital, which will take seven years to build, had been awarded to Cork-founded company John Sisk & Son.

Under the contract, Sisk will complete mechanical and electrical works at the new hospital on the St Vincent’s University Hospital campus in Elm Park, Dublin.

Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast on Wednesday, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said construction was set to begin in the early part of 2027.

"We have put an enormous amount of work into [the national maternity hospital]," Ms Carroll MacNeill said.

"A lot of enabling works have already taken place at St Vincent's, which means that the contractor can move into the site now in January."

An approved capital budget of €1.86bn, excluding VAT and relevant retention-related costs, has been set aside for the project, which Ms Carroll MacNeill described as being priced at “the market price”.

"This is the cost that the market says is there at the moment and we're very straightforward about that," she said.

"We went out to market with an independently verified design, and this is the market price.

"It is expensive to build healthcare, and there are not that many contractors in the market.

"There is also a global element to the price of construction that's certainly increased because of inflation, because of [the war in] Ukraine, and indeed because of the impact from the war in the Middle East."

Parking costs under review 

Ms Carroll MacNeill said “a review is happening” of plans for paid on-site parking at the hospital, with the Government and the HSE examining the possibility of introducing a maximum daily charge.

"We have 45 hospitals of different kinds around the country, nine are completely free, and the other thirty-six all have a maximum daily charge," she said.

“Most of them are €10, there's only four that have a daily charge over that, and there is a review happening around how that happens, what the different multi-day passes might be, and the different ways that we can provide better car parking.

"A lot of them are contracted with private entities, including in Vincent's, and there's a balance to be struck because we want to make sure it's accessible and easy for patients."

Ms Carroll MacNeill said the Government must also consider the hospital's proximity to Dublin city centre, adding that "you don't want it used by people looking for daily parking at a different price than you might get in the city".

The new National Maternity Hospital will have capacity for 10,000 births annually and will include 244 single-occupancy, en-suite patient rooms.

"This is the most important and significant investment we've ever put into women's health," Ms Carroll MacNeill said.

"This is not just a maternity hospital, it's about everything.

"It's for menopause, it's for all of the issues connected to menstrual health, endometriosis, it's for urogynaecology, it's more than maternity."

National Children's Hospital delays 

Ms Carroll MacNeill also said the Government had worked “very constructively” with Sisk on healthcare infrastructure projects, an experience which she said had not been replicated with BAM, the contractor on the National Children's Hospital project.

She said BAM had failed to meet agreed contractual standards during the billion-euro project, leading to further delays.

"The [opening] date [of the National Children's Hospital] will depend on the date that BAM finish the hospital properly," Ms Carroll MacNeill said.

"What we've been dealing with over the last number of months is things not being done, and having to be redone, as they weren't done properly.

"For example, ventilation systems have had to be cleaned not once, two, or three, but four times.

"The floors of surgical theatres that have had to be redone, and doors have had to be redone over closing too tight.

"It's ridiculous to have to articulate this but the building needs to be finished to the appropriate contractual standard, nothing less, and once we have that, then I will be able to give you a date.

"There isn't a single person in Ireland that would thank me for taking this hospital at anything less than the agreed contractual standard.

"We will take the hospital when it has been finished to an appropriate and agreed contractual standard and we are not going to take responsibility for work that hasn't been completed properly."

However, Ms Carroll MacNeill said the Government now had control over the ground, first and sixth floors, with fit-outs under way.

"We have 13,000 pieces of equipment put in by us, Children's Health Ireland – which have been tested and are working," Ms Carroll MacNeill said.

"So, where we've had the opportunity to get areas that have been finished properly, we've gone in there, taken over, and done it properly."