Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 5 October 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Construction of the National Children’s Hospital: Discussion

Photo of David CullinaneDavid Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That would have been good information to give us. Immediately after making that point, he then said that robustly defending claims is both time-consuming and costly. I understand why the board has sought a pausing of the claims process. It wants to concentrate, with the contractor, on getting the hospital built and there is an element of wisdom in that. However, Mr. Gunning did say that the process of defending claims is both time-consuming and costly and that is the point I am making. When we are talking about the final cost of the national children's hospital, given everything I have just said, it will be long after the hospital is built before we get to a final cost. If he is agreeing that it is time-consuming and the board has put the process on hold, then even after the handover in March 2024, we are still going to have some of those claims potentially, if not probably, not dealt with. Is it the case that it could be years before we have a final cost?

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