The new National Children's Hospital in Dublin will not receive its first patients until at least June of next year, the Dáil Public Accounts Committee has heard.
"There is a nine-month commissioning period, so the best optimum date would be the end of June of 2026," Children's Health Ireland (CHI) Chief Executive Lucy Nugent said.
"Nobody wants to be in this building more than the patients and the staff," she added.
The committee also heard from David Gunning, the Chief Officer of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), who said the hospital would not open before the end of September.
"The new date is the 30th of September 2025," he told the committee.
This is the 15th time the project has failed to meet its final deadline since 2020.
Mr Gunning said the update was given to him by contractor BAM yesterday evening and it was too early to say if he had confidence in that date.
"This further delay is a cause of great frustration," he added.
Watch: CHI confirms latest delay before patients are treated at NCH
Mr Gunning said that he does not have faith in BAM, given the timeline has slipped 15 times.
The contractor, he said, maintains the delays are caused by design change, but he disagreed with this.
Mr Gunning estimated that it was costing €2 million per month of delay.
Project Director Phelim Devine claimed the full resources were not being applied to the development by BAM.
The witnesses agreed with an estimation by Fianna Fáil TD Seamus McGrath that the final cost of the project would be "€2.2bn to €2.3bn".
Mr Gunning said that "no blank cheques" were given to the contractor and the original budget of €1.433bn "did not include certain areas".
"I don't think people anticipated Brexit and war in Ukraine and the level of construction inflation that we have experienced."
Design changes delaying hospital completion - BAM
In a statement, BAM said the completion of the hospital has been delayed by further design changes, adding that the board did not present "a comprehensive set of facts" to the committee.
"Following a meeting with then Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, in early October 2024, BAM indicated that substantial completion of the NCH could be achieved by June 2025 if no further design changes were made.
"In the seven months since that meeting, in the region of 70 significant change orders, each of which can include multiple design changes, have been issued to BAM.
"This has inevitably delayed substantial completion.
"BAM is not responsible for the design of the NCH, and we are disappointed that the NPHDB has again not presented the Public Accounts Committee with a comprehensive set of facts which acknowledges that the scale and number of design changes issued throughout this project have had a direct impact on the completion date.
"The project has always been fully resourced by BAM according to the original work programme and is currently resourced at approximately 50% above the level that was anticipated for this late stage given the design changes that have occurred," the statement said.
Watch: Juliette Gash reports on the PAC meeting
Mr Gunning said there continues to be a high volume of claims by BAM.
Some 3,277 claims have been received, worth €856m.
Mr Gunning said the board accepts €50.5m of "determined claims".
There are 2,200 claims "at various places of dispute" and the board is "fighting every one of those".
He confirmed that five sets of proceedings are before the High Court and there were likely to be more.
Mr Gunning said that BAM might have won some claims in conciliation, but there is "a high bar" in the High Court and he is confident of the board's case.
Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy said that BAM was paid €122m by the board after a conciliation finding in its favour in relation to a "critical delay" issue.
Mr McCarthy said this finding is being challenged in the High Court and, if successful, BAM will have to repay the money.
Watch: Political Coverage Editor Joe Mag Raollaigh reports on the NCH
In February, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said that she expected the hospital to cost close to €2.24bn, including commissioning costs, and that it would open in 2026.
Mr Gunning said the board shares "the concern" that the hospital has yet to be finished.
"I want to assure you that the NPHDB is working with our colleagues in CHI (Children's Health Ireland), the Department of Health, the HSE, and the contractor BAM to bring this world-class hospital to substantial completion as soon as possible," he told the committee.
"We understand and share the concern that it has not been completed. Once completed and operational, this hospital will be transformational.
"It is a significant investment on behalf of the State, and its impact will be far-reaching," Mr Gunning said.
'I'm responsible' for hospital development - Harris
Tánaiste Simon Harris has told the Dáil that he accepts responsibility for the National Children's Hospital.
He was minister for health when construction of the facility was approved.
"I am responsible, of course I am responsible. I'm responsible for bringing the proposal to Cabinet. I am responsible for recommending that we proceed," Mr Harris said during Leaders' Questions.
"The easiest thing to do in politics - if you don’t want to get into any challenging situation - is never make a decision.
"Of course the buck stops with me ... nobody gets everything right in politics."
"I am going to be responsible for a world-class facility," the Tánaiste added.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said that Mr Harris was like "an under-pressure estate agent furiously trying to sell an over-priced, extortionate, exhorbitant hospital to an increasingly angry population".
The NCH is "a monument to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael waste and blame-shifting.
"Your fingers are all over this ... accountability and yourself are like oil and water," Mr Tóibín said.
