Elaine Loughlin: Delusional board ignore reality of National Children's Hospital

As the board and the contractors continue to squabble about costs and become mired in legal battles over claims, the children of Ireland have been left without the hospital they need and deserve, writes Elaine Loughlin

Construction of the new National Children's Hospital taking place in Dublin.

Delusional, that was the word used to describe the attitude of the National Pediatric Hospital Development Board.

Faced by spiralling costs and a rapidly sliding timeframe for the National Children's Hospital, the board has simply decided to ignore reality and stick with the original plan, at least until they can come up with a new one.

Appearing before the Oireachtas Health Committee, the board's chief officer David Gunning admitted that more than 600 individual claims associated with extra costs amounting to over €200m have been received from the main contractor BAM.

At the same time, work on the most expensive construction project in the history of the State is behind by at least nine months, but again no definitive answer could be provided on the exact length of the delay.

The board have not reviewed the timeline and are still working off the €1.433bn budget which was agreed upon in late 2018 after €450m was added to the bill.

Pressed by a number of committee members, Mr Gunning said they "continue to work towards the contract timelines", and that this would remain the case “until such time as we change that programme”.

It's like thinking you can buy enough food for a dinner party of 10 people with a budget for only four guests while promising to have it ready on time despite being slowed down by a broken arm.

Responding Social Democrat co-leader Roisín Shortall claimed the board is "delusional".

"You're deluding us as well as the taxpayer. It's not acceptable, given the evidence that is there at the moment which you've outlined yourself to talk about working to the original date," she said.

Construction of the new National Children's Hospital taking place in Dublin.

Mr Gunning did go on to acknowledge that the August 2022 deadline is no longer feasible, but it will be early next year before the board can give any estimation of when the hospital may actually be able to admit and treat its first patient.

The story of the National Children's Hospital is at this stage a long saga of which the end is still not nearly in sight.

Sick babies have grown from infants to children, to teenagers and now adults who will never use the hospital as disputes over its location; multiple board resignations; massive cost overruns and legal actions have dogged the project.

The idea of building a single, tertiary children's hospital in Dublin was first raised in 1993 when recommended by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.

But it was more than another decade before the Dublin's Mater Hospital was chosen as the site for the new hospital, a decision which was both welcomed and opposed in equal measure.

In 2007 then Health Minister Mary Harney established the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) which would oversee the construction of a world-class children's hospital.

But by 2011, when then Minister for Health James Reilly announced an independent review of the site decision, the hospital development had already been embroiled in a number of controversies and had seen two chairs of the board resign.

A year later and with €35million already pumped into the project, An Bord Pleanála refused planning permission for the development on the tight Mater Hospital site as they believed it would have a "profound negative impact on the appearance and visual amenity of the city skyline”.

The Mater location was abandoned and St James's on the other side of the Liffey was chosen. In 2015, a planning application for the new children's hospital was lodged and at the time had what was thought to be a hefty price tag of €650 million and a completion date of 2020.

Welcoming the granting of planning permission in 2016, then Health Minister Leo Varadkar said it was “fantastic news for all the children of Ireland”.

"It will produce a state of the art hospital of which everyone can be proud," he said.

In April of 2017, the Government approved a construction budget of €983m, however, that had jumped by €200m in just four months, and so started the runaway costs train.

Construction of the new National Children's Hospital taking place in Dublin. Picture: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

In late 2018, a further €450m was added to the rising Children's Hospital bill, bringing the total cost of the project to €1.433bn with some estimates putting it as high as €1.7bn.

Many opposition TDs believe there will be "little change" out of €2bn when the hospital is eventually completed and Mr Gunning was unable to provide a firm answer when asked about this by Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway.

Covid has presented unique challenges for all sectors of the economy and the pandemic shut construction sites down from March to mid-May.

However, a dispute between the BAM and the board of the hospital over the extra costs associated with Covid, meant all work on the Children's Hospital project was halted right the way through the summer.

In July, the board admitted there would be further delays to the completion of the hospital but added it was “too early to fully assess the time or cost impact of the pandemic”. 

It is now, according to the board, still too early to say what the time implications will be.

However, Mr Gunning did stress that the main contractor has been "underperforming as regards project execution and has been extremely assertive as regards claims".

These claims were strongly refuted by BAM, who in a statement last night, said they are "fully committed to delivering this vital piece of national infrastructure as quickly and efficiently as possible."

Mr Gunning told TDs and Senators that the board is using “all levers” available to it “to manage and defend against claims so as to protect the public purse”.

But he said, "in areas where the contractor is entitled to additional payments, we are making, and we'll continue to make those payments."

It is clear that tensions have been rising between both the board and the contractor, so much so that the board discussed the possible termination of the building contract earlier this year when the site was shut. However, they did not progress with this.

As the board and the contractors continue to squabble about costs and become mired in legal battles over claims, the children of Ireland have been left without the hospital they need and deserve.