Mr. Fred Barry:

I thank the committee for inviting us to provide an update on the construction of the new children’s hospital. I am joined by Mr. David Gunning, chief officer; Dr. Emma Curtis, medical director; and Mr. Phelim Devine, project director of the development board.

The NPHDB was appointed in 2013 to design, build and equip the new children’s hospital. A planning application was lodged in 2015 and An Bord Pleánala granted planning permission in 2016 for the new children’s hospital and the two paediatric outpatient and urgent care centres. One of those is complete and operational at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown and a second is under construction at Tallaght University Hospital.

Since I appeared before the committee last June, there have been a number of changes in leadership and project governance. Following a competitive process overseen by the Public Appointments Service, PAS, Mr. David Gunning was appointed chief officer in September and Mr. Phelim Devine was appointed project director in October. We have also added to the capabilities of the project team by engaging expertise in a number of areas. We have reorganised the board committee structure to focus our attention on what will be our critical challenges over the coming years. As a result of the resignation of a number of board members this year, there are vacancies on the board. These positions were advertised via the PAS and we understand a shortlist of potential candidates will be submitted to the Minister in December. We report to the children's hospital project and programme steering group on a monthly basis, providing comprehensive updates on all aspects of the project, and we also report to the project and programme board. We continue to work closely with the relevant officials in the Department of Health and our colleagues in the HSE, as well as with our colleagues in Children’s Health Ireland.

Those members who have had the opportunity to visit the site of the new children's hospital, or anybody who has passed the site recently, will have seen the progress that has been achieved in construction. Across the 12 acre site, the excavation, piling and the structural frame to the underground basement for campus-wide facilities management, energy centre and the 1,000-space underground car park are nearing completion and the first window has been installed in the hospital. Well over 1 million sq. ft of slabs have been poured. Mr. Gunning will give some further detail on the construction shortly. The outpatient and urgent care centre at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown was handed over to our colleagues in Children’s Health Ireland for operational commissioning earlier this year and services have commenced there since we last came before the committee.

On cost, the committee will undoubtedly recall that the Government authorised the development board to proceed with the main construction works late last year, following agreement on a guaranteed maximum price, GMP, with the main contractor. The investment decision approved at the time was exclusive of residual risks, as was communicated at the time of approval. These exceptions were also set out within the PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, report published in April this year. As pointed out by PwC, some of these risks are under our control and some are not, and we are actively managing those under our control while monitoring those that are not. One example relates to contractor claims. Contractor claims are a feature of most construction contracts, big and small, including this one. We are organised to ensure timely and evidenced responses to claims as they arise and are defending the public interest robustly. Contractor claims have not had a material impact on the GMP to date.

I will hand over to our recently appointed chief officer, Mr. David Gunning, who will introduce himself and provide some more detail on the construction update.