David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Gunning says in his opening statement that this is a complex project and the contract is unique. I think he could go an awful lot further and say that it is a mess. It is bogged down in delays, controversy and escalating costs. The board is not in a position today to give us a revised timeframe. It is not in a position today to give us the total costs. We were told before that it would be €1.7 billion. I would expect that it would be far north of that. The project is now bogged down in a High Court case. We are being told the case will commence in December. We do not know how long it will take. It is a very messy situation where it seems that relationships have completely broken down between the contractor and the board to the point where the board was even considering terminating the contract.

This is deeply unsatisfactory. The people we need to be conscious of are the children. This is about providing a hospital for children, yet we have no idea when it will be completed. With the construction delay, it may even be 2024 before we see any patients treated in the hospital. It is a complete and absolute mess from start to finish. Everything I have heard today compounds that. The witnesses are not able to give us basic information or any idea as to when the project will be built or an estimate of the costs. The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board is in the High Court and every single facet of the dispute-resolution process that could be used is being used. It is unsatisfactory. The witnesses will have to come back here in the new year with much more information for this committee.