Mr. Fred Barry:

I thank the committee for inviting us here this morning to discuss the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, NPHDB, financial statements 2018. I am joined here today by Mr. David Gunning, chief officer, Mr. Jim Farragher, finance officer, Dr. Emma Curtis, medical director, and Mr. Phelim Devine, project director.

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board was appointed in 2013 to design, build and equip the new children’s hospital. A planning application was lodged in 2015 and An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission in 2016 for the new children’s hospital, and the two paediatric outpatients and urgent care centres - one already complete and operational at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown and a second under construction at Tallaght University Hospital.

Following the approval of a guaranteed maximum price in December 2018, the NPHDB provided the Committee of Public Accounts in January 2019 with a breakdown of costs approved by Government for the design, build and equipping of the new children’s hospital. The agreed investment decision is €1.433 billion. 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 PwC report published in April. As pointed out by PwC, some of these risks are under our control and some are not. We are actively managing those under our control while monitoring those that are not.

The 2018 accounts were audited and approved by the Comptroller and Auditor General on 24 October 2019. The expenditure as at 31 December 2018 for that year on the design and build of the hospital was €127,603,801. An analysis of expenditure to 31 December 2017 and 2018 is included in the opening statement submitted to the committee.

I would like to take this opportunity to give members an update on the construction progress; those of you who have had the opportunity to visit the site of the new children’s hospital – or indeed any of you that have passed by the site recently - will have seen the progress that has been achieved. 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 carpark are nearing completion and the first window has actually been installed in the hospital. Well over 1 million sq. ft. of slabs have been poured. Mr. Gunning will give the committee 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 since we last met services have commenced there.

Since I appeared before the committee in May, there have been a number of changes in leadership, and in relation to project governance. Following a competitive process overseen by the Public Appointments Service, Mr. David Gunning was appointed as chief officer in September and Mr. Phelim Devine was appointed project director in October. We have additionally 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 Public Appointments Service, and we understand that a shortlist of potential candidates will be submitted to the Minister in December.

We report to the children’s hospital project and programme, CHP&P, steering group on a monthly basis, providing comprehensive updates on all aspects of the project, and we also report to the CHP&P board.