Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 25 September 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Update on Construction of New National Children's Hospital: National Paediatric Hospital Development Board

9:30 am

Photo of John LahartJohn Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are public representatives who have been trying to get to the bottom of this in the best way we can over recent years. Much media commentary in recent days seems to suggest the truth seems to lie somewhere between what the development board says and what BAM says. I took a look at BAM Ireland's website over the past 60 seconds. We would imagine a company as big as BAM would be showcasing this project on the homepage of its website. It is a large project. There is no mention of it. It has images of bridges and civil engineering projects labelled BAM Civil and BAM Building. The children's hospital does not feature. There are also images labelled BAM Property, BAM Rail, BAM FM and Modular Homes. The latest news is that BAM will deliver a new post-primary school. The website mentions BAM's new role supporting 2,500 new homes. I am intrigued as to why BAM is not showcasing the national children's hospital on the homepage of its website for the world to see. We would imagine it would do so as it is a colossal project, and that if we went to the homepage of Royal BAM, this famous great Dutch firm, it would want to be showcasing this project. I could be wrong but we tend to the view that the State gets it all wrong. What the witnesses have painted here is a picture of a failure in the mechanisms to be able to call the company to account.

I have a number of questions. Would the board recommend BAM for any State project in future based on its experience?

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.