A November completion date for the new National Children's Hospital is likely to be missed while contractor BAM has had payments withheld due to its "non-compliance".
In a letter to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), which is in charge of the project, has laid out its concerns.
The NPHDB is understood to be putting pressure on the contractor in order to get the build finished by holding back 15% of BAMs monthly invoice payments for August and September, totalling €1.15 million.
Using this monetary lever indicates the frustration felt by the board that this could be the sixteenth delay to the new National Children's Hospital, which has a total cost of €2.24 billion.
Due to repeated missed deadlines, the letter from the board says the employer's representative which is an independent third party responsible for administering the contract, has deemed BAM to be "non-compliant".
The NPHDB writes that in its latest programme update in September, BAM stated there would be a Substantial Completion Date of 24 November 2025 and that a further updated programme would be provided to the board by mid-October.
The September update also described how the first phase of early access to Children's Health Ireland would commence on 3 November.
That access would allow CHI to begin the process to commission the infrastructure for the new hospital along with facilitating clinical cleaning post-build.
The NPHDB letter says BAM needs to provide proper resources, as it says the contractor has "not adequately resourced" the project.
It also details a legal challenge against BAM, that is being pursued in the High Court and says four bonded payments totalling €145m have been "mischaracterised" by the contractor as "revenue" when they are actually part of the legal proceedings.
It is understood members of the PAC will discuss this latest letter when they meet tomorrow and that the NPHDB will be requested to attend the committee as soon as possible.
Speaking in the Dáil, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the responsibility for delivering the hospital is with the contractor BAM whom the state, are paying to complete the contract on time.
Answering queries from the Opposition she said it "would be helpful to be aware that we together are paying a contractor who is not delivering its commitments on time for this State".
It is essential she said that BAM do what they said they would, she said.
Ms MacNeill said she is "holding the contractor very seriously to account for the dates it sets and it moves".
She said the hospital development board is trying to hold the contractor to account.
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Hospital 'more than 99% complete', says BAM
In a statement to RTÉ News, contractor BAM said the new Children's Hospital is "more than 99% complete and has always been adequately resourced".
It was responding to a letter sent by the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) which is the body in charge of implementing the project.
A spokesperson for BAM said numbers of personnel "fluctuate depending on the nature of the work on site".
"It is entirely normal that there are fewer personnel working on the project at this late stage compared to this time last year," they said.
The statement went on to say that the NPHDB has been offered early access and that large areas of the hospital have been completed since early July.
BAM statement went on; "Our focus remains on facilitating early access to the hospital in early November so that CHI can begin the commissioning process.
"At present, over 800 rooms are at stage 4, and more than 3,300 rooms are at stage 3."
It is understood 'stage 4' means a room is completed and ready for handover.
BAM said it remains committed to delivering the project "to the highest standards, while working closely with all stakeholders to actively manage the challenges involved and achieve the earliest possible opening date for the children of Ireland".
