The National Children's Hospital in Dublin is almost ready to be handed over to Children's Health Ireland, according to Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said she received an update on completion from construction company BAM, during a visit to the facility.
"I think it is 98 to 99% complete, is what BAM have told me. And I know we're on track to hand over the hospital at the end of June."
CHI, which operates paediatric services, is due to get access to the hospital in April to start work on establishing departmental structures, to commission laboratories and specialist treatment rooms, and to bring in more equipment.
Ms Carroll MacNeill said that international commissioning experiences for hospitals of this scale take up to one year.
"We think it's going to be between six and nine months. That's why we want that early access in April," she said.
Earlier this month, the minister said that she expected the National Children's Hospital to cost close to €2.24 billion, including commissioning costs, and that it would open next year.
Ms McNeill said that she is impressed with the high standard of the facility.
"When you go into the hospital, you see the standard that it is, and it's really very exciting to see it at this stage.
"The rooms in the emergency department are bigger. It is just a different experience."
The minister was on site to show the hospital to her Northern Ireland counterpart, Mike Nesbitt.
"’The attention to detail has been absolutely brilliant," he said.
"[I’m] very jealous, but hopefully within the next few years, we'll catch up, and I'll be inviting the minister up to Belfast to see our new children's hospital."
Construction on a 155-bed facility in Belfast is due to get under way shortly.
The build is expected to take five years. It is due to open in 2030 and cost £671 million.
The hospital will also be built by BAM.
Despite the cost overruns and lengthy delays for the Dublin hospital, Mr Nesbitt expressed confidence in the company.
He also said that governance structures will be "’beefed up" for construction of the facility and the Northern Ireland Executive "will need to be watchful".
"I'm not really interested in looking to the past unless it gives me lessons for the future.
"The future for us is building our new children's hospital and I'm assured that we've got the right people and the right new governance and structures in place to make sure that that hospital is delivered as close to on time and on budget as is humanly possible," Mr Nesbitt said.
Both ministers hope to collaborate on joint health initiatives as part of the Shared Island programme.
While discussions are at an early stage, they have focused on cardiac care, paediatric care and health inequality.
"We have ideas in gestation about something that's capable of being mobile, capable of reaching different communities, but really targeting health inequality," Ms Carroll MacNeill said.
