Children’s hospital within 5% of cost projections, Seanad told

The €1 billion new national children's hospital is within 5 per cent of cost projections, Minister of State for Health Catherine Byrne has said.

She said the department was aware from the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board the tendered construction costs per bed, as suggested in recent media commentary, were not accurate and did not resemble the actual tender costs.

“Furthermore, it has been previously stated that the construction tender does not include equipment which will be funded through annual operational expenditure or ICT costs,’’ Ms Byrne added. “These elements of the project were always to be funded and procured separately.’’

Construction costs

She said funding for educational facilities and commercial elements such as retail and car parking were also separately identified from the core construction costs for the new hospital.

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Speaking in the Seanad on Wednesday, Ms Byrne declined to comment on the claim by Health Service Executive chief executive Tony O'Brien that the agency could not afford to build the hospital.

He told the Dáil Committee on the Future of Healthcare on Tuesday the HSE could not progress the project at St James’s Hospital in Dublin within the “current capital envelope’’.

Pressed by Senators on the issue, Ms Byrne said everybody knew construction costs increased. “But there is a plan there and you have to give it time,’’ she said.

She said the building of the hospital was the opportunity of a lifetime and it should be embraced.

Ms Byrne said there was ongoing work to finalise the heads of a Bill to merge the three existing children’s hospitals into one entity. The complex programme of work was set out in the definitive business case for the new hospital.

She said Minister for Health Simon Harris intended bringing the business case to the Government for decision in the coming weeks.