Soaring hospital costs: Out of control?

It is not surprising that the ever-escalating cost of the yet undelivered National Children’s Hospital will limit Government’s capacity to fund other projects.

The project has a voracious appetite for funds that shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, the very opposite is the case.

Six years ago, the hospital was expected to cost €404m. When the St James’s site was finally selected, that figure had jumped to €485m.

Two years ago, the momentum accelerated and when an application for planning permission was lodged, the estimate had reached €650m.

Last year, it hit €1bn, but, in the last 12 months, that figure has soared by 40%, hitting €1.4bn — €1bn more than the 2012 figure.

This seems, even by the wildest standards, a spectacular indifference to the kind of planning that should characterise major public projects.

Last year, Health Minister Simon Harris said he expected the project to be delivered “on budget and on time”, by the end of 2021, but if the current rate of increase continues — 40% a year — the cost will hit the unimaginable and the

incomprehensible.