Children's hospital: Minister says BAM does not have enough staff on site

The National Children’s Hospital, on the site of St James’ Hospital in Dublin, has been besieged by delays and cost overruns.

The current substantial completion date is April 30. This is the 16th deadline to be set by the contractor.

In the Mater Hospital, at the launch of the HSE’s new AI healthcare strategy, Ms Carroll MacNeill said she visited the National Children’s Hospital earlier this week and expressed frustration with the progress of the project.

“I’ve been there a couple of times in the last few weeks,” she said.

“On every occasion that I’ve been there, I have not seen the number of people working there that I believe I should to meet the April 30 deadline.

I have not been satisfied with the number of rooms being completed each week.

“Over a four-week average, it’s about 167 a week.

“There was one week there, February 13, where it was up at 360, but then dropped to 116 the following week.

“It’s becoming cumulatively worse relative to where it should be in terms of room completions.”

Ms Carroll MacNeill said Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) has access to the sixth floor, the lower ground floor, and the ground floor.

CHI has started building cots and workstations on the sixth floor that can be moved elsewhere once building works are complete because “BAM have been slow”, the minister said.

BAM 'has drifted'  

She argued BAM has already “drifted a week, two weeks”, and she is “worried that they will drift more”.

Ms Carroll MacNeill said CHI wants access to the “hot block” where the surgical theatres and laboratories will be located, as this is where extra time will be required to commission high-tech equipment.

“I was disappointed to see that there weren’t, it appeared to me, hundreds and hundreds of people working there,” she said.

“If they were, I didn’t see them. BAM pointed out to me: ‘Well, minister, you’re only in the places where you have control. You wouldn’t expect to see them’.

“I said: ‘Well, where are they then?’

“They said, ‘well, they’re in the basement’. I said: ‘Good, let’s go. Let’s go see.’

“I went down to the basement, and it was an enormously large empty car park. I counted 16 people, and two of them were working.

“I’m just not satisfied that I see, on the times that I’m there, the activity.

“But my dissatisfaction is not just visual and anecdotal. It’s one that’s backed up by the tracked figures by the hospital development board of the number of people who are there and productively working.”

A spokesperson for BAM said the National Children’s Hospital is “now in the final stages of completion and commissioning”.

“Work is taking place simultaneously across several areas of the building, including highly technical and clinical areas that require specialist commissioning work,” they said.

"The project continues to be resourced to support the work currently underway, with specialist teams continuing to complete the remaining programme.”

• Louise Burne, Political Correspondent