Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has said she expects the National Children's Hospital to cost close to €2.24 billion including commissioning costs, and that it will be opened in 2026.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Ms Carroll MacNeill said that the State had already paid €48 million out of an outstanding €853m.
"I do appreciate that it makes good headlines, I do appreciate that it stokes a little interest and little fear, but the reality is of €853m sought, €48m has been given," she said.
"Our annual spend on health is nearly €24bn every year. So it's €2.3bn out of €24bn. It's a once off €2.3bn for a hospital that we will have for 100 years," she added.
Staffing concerns
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald raised concerns over staffing levels at the children's hospital.
She pointed to a letter in which surgeons warn that the hospital would be understaffed "from day one", adding that they feel ignored.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin Martin responded that there is always debate around the commissioning and staffing of a new hospital.
Much work has been done to facilitate "a smooth transition", he said, but acknowledged that it is on "a scale never experienced before".
Open by 2026
Yesterday when asked if the opening of the hospital will be delayed again, Mr Martin said that that target date is "still as it was outlined originally".
"There has been engagement between the hospital development board and the development of for quite some time… That needs to continue, and the state needs to ensure it gets value for money.
Ms Carroll MacNeill said this morning that she expects the National Children’s Hospital to be open by 2026.
She said that this was not a delay, but rather due to a "six-to-nine-month commissioning phase".
"That means putting in the surgical equipment, putting in the beds, putting in the laboratories, training the 4,000 staff from three different hospitals. That work has already begun off site, but the on-site piece of that, training in a new digital healthcare system, is between six and nine months," she said.
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board has said it is engaging with the builders of the new hospital to secure additional early access of up to three months prior to substantial completion, to mitigate risks of delays to the opening.
It said the builders BAM has committed to a substantial completion date of 30 June 2025.
Earlier access could see commissioning begin around April.
Commissioning period
Once substantial completion is achieved, the hospital will be handed over to Children's Health Ireland (CHI) for a substantial completion operational commissioning period.
This commissioning will involve installing equipment like beds, labs and training staff and is expected to take 6-9 months.
The NPHDB is tasked with building the new hospital while CHI will run it under one governance with the three children's hospitals on site.
Ms Carroll MacNeill said that it was too risky to move children into the new hospital in the winter.
"We want to move the children from Temple Street, Crumlin and Tallaght, essentially over a seven-to-ten-day period. What we do is we discharge as many children as can be discharged," she said.
"We essentially have to close the city overnight and move the sickest children in Ireland in ambulances from their hospital they're in to a new hospital. All of the international evidence says that you do not do that during a risky period," she said.
"The hospitals are busier from November to March, there are more staff off with respiratory illnesses. There's more respiratory disease in the hospital itself ... it's not the right time to do that and I don't think that certainly as a parent I would want the Minister for Health to take a risk with the well-being of my sick child during that period," she added.
