Cork events centre delayed: Why a €10m jump in costs?

The practice of securing a public contract by tendering €X but eventually asking for €X-plus-something-substantial seems well established.

The National Children’s Hospital was first estimated at €650m but the Dáil has been told costs are “like a runaway train” and have almost doubled to €1bn. The Department of Health once estimated a bed in that hospital would cost €828,000 but that figure has hit €2.5m.

The firm awarded the hospital contract, Bam Ireland, was also involved in building bypass roads at Tralee and Castleisland in recent years.