Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill says she cannot currently give an intended completion date for the long-delayed National Children’s Hospital Ireland (NCHI), citing repeated slippage by the main contractor and ongoing concerns about delivery timelines.
Asked about proposed completion dates during a visit to the hospital site with Prime Time, the minister said that while there is technically a timeline in place, the contractor has already missed 19 previous substantial completion dates.
"We do have a timeline," Minister Carroll MacNeill said. "But is it going to be met? If you’ve experienced something 19 times, do you expect it to be different on the 20th?"
In February last year, the minister said she expected the hospital to be opened "in 2026."
Minister Carroll MacNeill told Prime Time the opening of the hospital depends on when BAM, the main contractor, delivers the 'hot block’ — the critical care beds, operating theatres and other core clinical areas — at the appropriate clinical finish and contractual standards, after which a seven-month finalisation process will begin.
Asked if realistically people should then expect a completion date around this time next year, the minister said "I don't want to say, because I want the hot block tomorrow."
"We'll open it when it's safe, when it's right," she said, adding "I'm not going to open it at a standard that isn't clinically appropriate, and I'm not going to open it if it's not safe for the children to move, and I think they're pretty reasonable parameters."
Since 2019, BAM and the State have been in dispute over contract issues, delivery timelines, and quality of the finish to rooms in the hospital. BAM disputes the minister’s assertion that it has continually missed deadlines.
In a statement, the contractor said: "It is not accurate or constructive to state that BAM has continuously missed completion dates."
It said programme updates reflected "instructed design changes and additional scope — not a failure of delivery", pointing to "25,000 design revisions, with new drawings still being issued in 2026."
That characterisation around design changes is itself strongly disputed by State bodies involved in the project.
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board says "any statement that there have been 20,000-plus ‘design changes’ is incorrect."
"On every construction project, it is normal for drawings to be revised to incorporate the Contractor’s design, systems, and products. This is because EU procurement rules prohibit fully specifying systems and product names at the tender stage," it said.
"These revised drawings are not ‘design changes’ because the intent and required functionality have not changed."
The minister told Prime Time that after BAM provides final completion the urgent seven-month commissioning period will be overseen by the hospital board and officials, after which the new hospital will be opened.
"The earliest we can do it is seven months after we get the hot block," she said.
"CHI (Children’s Health Ireland) has worked hard to shorten that timeline as much as possible, but that seven months is essential for doing things like testing laboratory equipment in situ. The calibrations are extremely fine and that really is the time it takes."
Watch: Sarah McInerney visits the National Childrens Hospital before interviewing Minister Carroll MacNeill
Access to several floors
In recent months, BAM has provided access to CHI to the lower ground floor, ground floor, and sixth floor of the hospital.
Minister Caroll MacNeill said significant progress has since been made in those areas of the hospital.
"We have fitted out 10,000 pieces of both medical and nonmedical equipment into this hospital since last December," she said.
"The sixth floor is finished. We have the ground floor where the emergency department is — that will be finished next week. Any place that we have gotten access to the hospital, we have shown that we are delivering and ready to take over."
However, she said the State cannot accept delivery from the contractor parts of the hospital that do not meet required standards.
"We can’t take rooms with doors that don’t close properly. We can’t take rooms with ventilation systems that aren’t at a clinical standard," she said.
"We will take this hospital at the standard that we paid for, which is the appropriate clinical and contractual standard."
"Of the 22 surgical theatres, in seven of the theatres the floors have had to be redone," she said.
Responding to comments about such issues and revisions, BAM said it is part of the "the normal snagging and commissioning phase" required on projects of this scale and complexity.
The contractor said that over 4,000 of the hospital’s 5,728 rooms are now complete with work progressing on roughly 180 rooms per week which it said is "well above international benchmarks for major hospital projects".
The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board says while 4,000 rooms have been offered for inspection by BAM, that number of rooms have not yet been validated as compliant with the contract, and closer to 110 have been offered by BAM each week for the last month.
Contract background
BAM was awarded the contract to build the National Children’s Hospital in 2016, with a substantial completion date listed for late 2022. The contract was signed by current Minister for Finance and Tánaiste Simon Harris, who was Minister for Health at the time.
Asked by presenter Sarah McInerney whether political accountability was lacking over the original contract, Minister Carroll MacNeill said lessons have been learned, but her focus is firmly on delivery.
"My concentration is not looking at the past," she said. "All of my energy is going into the day that I can get access to the hot block at the appropriate standards, so that we can fit it out and deliver it in the way that the children of the future need."
She acknowledged the frustration of families who have waited years for the hospital to open, saying: "I am one of those parents. I have slept in Temple Street, I have slept in Crumlin. I totally understand that."
Long delayed
A new National Children’s Hospital was first proposed in 1993. After a series of issues with another site the contract with BAM was agreed in 2017, with a construction budget of €983m which excluded fit-out costs.
However, the current estimated cost is over €2.24 billion, including fit-out.
The minister said the final figure represents "a once‑off cost" which is equivalent to less than one‑tenth of the annual health budget.
She said the new facility will transform paediatric care and help attract international clinical talent.
"This is what children need and deserve," she said. "I just want to get it open."
BAM says it continues to work closely with the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board and Children’s Health Ireland to deliver the hospital "as quickly and safely as possible for the children of Ireland".
Sarah McInerney spoke to Minister Carroll MacNeill at the National Children's Hospital for the 21 April edition of Prime Time which is broadcast on RTÉ One television and available on the RTÉ Player.
