Paul Hosford: Lessons learned? Children's Hospital shows Government needs extra tuition

After 18 years and €2.4bn, we may get our new Children's Hospital. Paul Hosford wonders if there have been any lessons learned from the process

The overall cost of constructing the new Children's Hospital has risen to over €2.24bn. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Lessons learned, what a wonderful phrase.

It can sometimes seem that Irish society and the body politic is always learning some lesson or another, usually about a failure of the State. This week, it was, perhaps, a lesson in cost overrun? A lesson in public procurement, maybe? A lesson in...something that costs €2.24bn, anyway.