Bill for National Children’s Hospital now exceeding over €2bn, Stephen Donnelly tells Cabinet

Mr Donnelly confirmed to ministers on Tuesday that the costs for the project has gone up by €500 million taking the final bill to €2.24 billion.

A previous estimate in 2019 put the final bill for the project at €1.7 billion – already making it one of the most expensive health facilities in the world.

Mr Donnelly is expected to outline further details of the total cost of the project later on Tuesday.

This will include that the further half-a-billion euro relates not just to the construction of the facility on the site of St James’s Hospital in south Dublin but covers other aspects of the project, including commissioning costs.

The Department of Health has previously said delays to the project are the biggest contributor to cost with it long expected that the final bill would top €2.2 billion by the time the hospital is finished.

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) confirmed last year that the hospital will not be handed over to Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) by developer BAM until October of this year at the earliest.

CHI will need at least six months to make the facility operational, meaning that the long-awaited hospital will not open until April 2025 at the earliest.

In a statement, the Department of Health said the Government said it had approved enhanced capital and current budget sanctions for the NCH project, bringing the total approved budget to €2.24 billion.

This includes the design, build and equipping costs, including the satellite centres at Tallaght and Connolly hospitals of €1.88 billion.

It also includes a separate €360 million for the integration and transition of services to the NCH, including commissioning, ICT and electronic health records.

The hospital will provide 300 individual, inpatient, ensuite rooms - each with its own place for a parent/guardian to sleep.

In addition, it will double the current number of critical care beds to 60, and have 93-day beds and 20 dedicated, ensuite mental health (CAMHS) beds.

Theatre capacity will be expanded to 22 theatres and procedure rooms. The building will accommodate 5 MRIs and 110 outpatient rooms.

The department said project costs, like other areas of the construction sector and wider society, have also been impacted by other external pressures including the impacts to supply chains arising from the Covid-19 pandemic and other global events such as the war in Ukraine and Brexit.

Mr Donnelly said in the statement: "I acknowledge that a significant amount of money is being spent on this project, but it must not be forgotten that this is a hospital built to serve children and their families for the next 100 years.

"The new hospital building is unprecedented in scale and technological advancement.”

The Department said: "The main contractor has now set out its programme for the completion of the construction and fit-out of the hospital by Q4 2024. Allowing for an operational commissioning period of at least six months for Children’s Health Ireland (CHI), the hospital could open in mid-2025.”